obituaries

A True Heart Of Gold

Esther Allweiss Ingber
Contributing
Writer
I

aring and well-organized, Linda
Lee, a community volunteer
extraordinaire, was known for
tracking the birthdays and anniversaries
of countless people. This thoughtfulness
helps illustrate why so many claimed
Linda, Detroit's own "Super Girl:' as a best
friend and why some 800 people packed
her funeral service April 1 at Ira Kaufman
Chapel in Southfield.
Four weeks after receiving a diagnosis
of pancreatic cancer, Linda Lee, 69, of
West Bloomfield died on March 31, 2014.
Linda — whom First Lady Barbara
Bush honored with United Way's presti-
gious Heart of Gold award in 1991 — vol-
unteered 30-50 hours a week.
"If she saw a need, she just did it:' said
her friend, Susie Citrin. "She was humble
and not looking for accolades:'
Linda was primarily associated with
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, its member agencies and divi-
sions. Among her many accomplish-
ments, she served as the first woman
president since World War II of the
Jewish Community Center in 1990-92
and provided leadership in organizing a
networking/support group for Jewish gay
individuals and their families. Activities
to promote human rights and women's
rights were other enduring concerns.
Born in Bronx, N.Y., Linda was 2 when
her Marash family relocated to Detroit.
She graduated in 21/2 years from Mumford
High School and earned a teaching degree
at Wayne State University. Teaching was
a typical career path for girls back then
although she most enjoyed and excelled at
math. On a "balance sheet" of her life that
Linda prepared during her illness, one of
her few regrets was not becoming a CPA.
Her list of personal achievements on
that balance sheet was more extensive,
topped by being married to her "original
husband" and having "two great children"
When Henry Lee, a young tax attor-
ney, met Linda, a teacher at the for-
mer McKinley Elementary School in
Southfield, they went out for seven nights
in a row and talked till 3 or 4 a.m. "It was
like we knew each other our entire lives:'
Henry said. They wed in August 1967.

C

Dedication To Others

The thrust of Linda's professional vol-
unteerism started 43 years ago with her
involvement in the young leadership
development program of the Jewish
Federation's Women's Department
(renamed Women's Philanthropy). It's also
where she met Citrin and their mutual

friend Sharon Hart. Linda received
Federation's Sylvia Simon Greenberg
Young Leadership Award in 1982, and she
stayed involved with the organization for
life. She and the former Women's director,
Michelle Passon, were trusted friends.
Linda brought skills in strategic plan-
ning, goal-setting, fundraising, mentor-
ship, computers and overall organization
to Federation, and most notably, the JCC.
Her offices, directorships, clubs, honors
and memberships are too numerous to
list. To note a few projects,
she co-chaired Walk for
Israel, Michigan Miracle
Mission Committee and
Super Sunday and served
on the Federation/United
Way Relations Committee.
She also shared her
enormous skills with
American Women for
Bar-Ilan University,
Hillel Day School, Sinai
Hospital Guild, the Melton g
Advisory Committee (as
Linda Lee
chair) and the Jewish
Historical Society of
Michigan. She chaired the JCC Maccabi
Games held in Detroit in 1990.
Linda's concern for those less fortu-
nate extended to the wider community.
Her causes included leadership roles
in Muscular Dystrophy and HAVEN (a
domestic violence shelter). She served
nine years with United Way Community
Services, where her efforts included
chairing the Family and Youth Services
Allocation and Review Panel and the
Protective Services Committee.
Noting the passing of "one of our
community matriarchs:' Women's
Philanthropy President Lisa Lis said,
"Linda Lee was dedicated and passion-
ate about our community, and her legacy
is ingrained in the fabric of the lives she
touched:'
Linda became interested in gay rights
and preventing AIDS when she and
Henry attended the General Assembly of
the Council of Jewish Federations in San
Francisco. She attended a session focused
on "what's being done with families that
have a gay family member; he said.
Disturbed that Detroit's Jewish commu-
nity wasn't doing enough for gay people,
Linda stepped in to provide direction and
funds for an existing group, Michigan
Jewish AIDS Coalition. Edwina Davis,
who she hired as executive director of
MJAC in the late 1990s, became another
close friend.
"We worked on many issues together:'
Davis said. "Twice we traveled to Africa:'
In 2004, Linda created the Jewish Gay

Network (JGN), which is housed at the
JCC. She was proud of attending the first
White House conference on AIDS in
which Bill and Hillary Clinton partici-
pated.
JGN Committee Chair Michael Phillips
said Linda "felt it was very important for
allies to come out in support of lesbians,
gays, bisexuals and transgender people.
She dreamed about and worked to create
a world that was safe and welcoming to
everyone:'
"Linda Lee was
smart, dedicated and
full of energy:' said JCC
Associate Executive
Director David Stone.
"When she believed in
something, she gave it
every bit of her heart,
soul and time. Linda's
support [as co-chair
for three years] of the
Stephen Gottlieb Music
Festival [now Series]
and the JGN were
unparalleled, and she
had a profound influ-
ence not only on these programs but on
everyone who worked with her to make
certain that they succeeded. She had great
ideas; she was direct and she had a fabu-
lous sense of humor:'

Strong Family Life

Despite her activism, Henry Lee said his
wife managed to keep the home fires
burning. One of her secrets was being
able to function on only three to four
hours of sleep. Linda's waking hours went
so late that son Andy Lee in Colorado said
he could dash off an email at his midnight
and get his mother's reply five minutes
later.
The Lee children relished the one-on-
one adventurous vacations they shared
with their well-traveled mother, who
managed to visit all 50 states and every
continent. For daughter Sheri Lee's 30th
birthday, they went to Southeast Asia, and
for No. 40, it was a trip to Guatemala. For
Andy Lee, she traveled to the Amazon,
where Andy promised her running show-
er water, but failed to say it would be cold
river water.
"She pushed me to do even more than
I thought I could do; we climbed a volca-
no:' said Sheri. In December 2012, Linda
even traveled to Antarctica.
Linda also traveled with girlfriends to
enjoy her favorite sports of golf, which
she took up in her 60s, and tennis. Three
years ago, out of a field of 200 women, she
lost in the finals of the Senior Women's
Doubles Tennis Championship in Tucson.

Linda was a gourmet cook who hosted
between 30-40 guests about 10 times a
year, including the first nights of Passover
and Rosh Hashanah.
"She entertained beautifully:' said
Rabbi Joseph Krakoff of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, who spoke
at her funeral. "She was encompassing of
everyone and invited new Russian fami-
lies to her home as well:'
Linda compiled a cookbook for her
beloved Saturday Luncheon Club, which
hosts speaker-luncheons at Wabeek
Country Club in West Bloomfield. Her
database contained 200,000 recipes; yet to
Henry's regret, his wife would never make
the same dish twice.
Just before her cancer diagnosis, Linda
kept her promise to visit Orlando, Fla.,
with Sheri and two grandsons. Though
Linda wasn't feeling great, she rode the
roller coaster and other rides with Felix
and Hugo — giving them happy memo-
ries. She created others by bringing a
professional photographer to shoot pic-
tures of the whole family at the house.
Linda even planned her own, modest
funeral.
"When my mother got sick, she told the
doctor she hoped to be an over-achiever
in surviving as she was with everything
else;' Sheri said. "But sadly, she went
faster than most:' Linda assured her fam-
ily that she had had a wonderful life.
Rabbi Krakoff said, "She was proud she
had a role in being the glue that held the
family together:'
Linda Lee is survived by her hus-
band of 46 years, Henry Lee; daughter
and son-in-law, Sheri Lee and Dennis
Brodsky; son and daughter-in-law, Andy
and Benita Lee; grandchildren, Felix and
Hugo Brodsky, and Asher and Hudson
Lee; sisters and brother-in-law, Susan and
Roger Hertzberg, and Bonnie Marash;
brothers-in-law, Dr. Irwin Miller and
Larry Kamen; sister-in-law, Linda Albert;
nephew and his wife, Scott and Julie
Kamen; other nieces and nephews, and a
world of friends.
She was the daughter of the late Irving
and the late Harriet Marash; sister of the
late Pamela Miller; and sister-in-law of
the late Jim Albert.
Interment was at Clover Hill Park
Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the
Jewish Community Center, Kids All Together
Program, 6600 W. Maple, West Bloomfield,
MI 48322, (248) 661-1000, www.jccdet.org;
or Sky Foundation Inc., Funding Research
for the Early Detection for Pancreas Cancer,
33 Bloomfield Hills Parkway, Suite 275,
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304, (248) 978-9845,
www.skyfoundationinc.org . Arrangements
were by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

❑

Obituaries on page 90

Obituaries

ILI

April 10 • 2014

89

