oints of view >> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com Editorials Jewish CEO Accents Culture Shift At Ford W e wonder what Henry Ford, a Jew-hater whose early rants later enam- ored Adolf Hitler, would think of Ford Motor Co. moving Mark Fields, the chief operating officer, into position to become chief executive officer upon Alan Mulally's retirement, pro- jected by next year. Fields is one of the highest- ranking Jews in the international automotive business and is in line to become the first Jew to lead Ford, a 111-year-old automaker founded in Detroit. He'll follow Mulally's lead in bringing to Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn an energetic determina- tion to succeed. Fields' 2012 appointment as COO, putting him in charge of Ford's world- wide business operations, made him virtual heir apparent to Mulally, a job Fields has relished ever since Mulally arrived in 2006 from Boeing to turn around an ailing Ford. After earning a master of arts degree at Harvard and working for six years at IBM, Field joined Ford in 1989 on the Thunderbird mar- keting team. The Brooklyn native – talented and tenacious – cut his executive spurs as Ford's president of the Americas, which encompassed the U.S., Canada, Mexico and South America. Fields' Way Forward plan helped reverse Ford's slumping North American operations in 2006. Past Ghosts Henry Ford, the iconic company founder and a visionary industrial- ist folk hero to the masses, gained international stature with his anti- Jewish canards in the 1920s by way of his weekly newspaper, the Dearborn Independent. Dearborn Publishing Co., which Henry Ford owned, reprinted many of the articles. The four paper- bound volumes are collectively called The International Jew, The World's Foremost Problem. The text, inspired by The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious political forgery besmirching Jews as seekers of world domination, remains a staple means of legitimacy for modern-day haters, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In 1929, two years after lawsuits drove him to close the Dearborn Independent because of its relent- less anti-Semitism, Henry Ford found a new passion: history. That led to his opening the Thomas Edison Institute in Dearborn to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the invention of the incandescent light bulb by Edison, a longtime friend. Notably, in 2009, S. Evan Weiner, who is Jewish, was named board chair of The Henry Ford, which encom- passes Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum (and the Thomas Edison Institute). The museum complex pre- serves items of historical significance. Henry Ford courted Jewish suppli- ers, hired Jewish workers and consid- ered Jews, such as architect Albert Kahn, friends despite his anti-Semitic tendencies. Such tendencies weren't unusual in some business circles dur- ing his lifetime. Shifting Tides It was Henry Ford's grandson, Henry Ford II, who began to distance the company in earnest from its founder's dark political past and change com- pany culture. When Henry Ford II gained company control in the 1940s, he increased minority employees and named minority dealers and suppliers. Hank the Deuce was part of Grosse Pointe society but understood how big the tent of peoplehood really was. He counted as friends Max Fisher, A. Alfred Taubman and other local Jewish leaders. He also invested in Israel and contributed to the old United Jewish Appeal. It was as if Henry Ford II embraced the responsibility on behalf of the Ford family and Ford Motor Co. to improve the company image bur- nished by his grandfather, who died in 1947. The old man clung to a resent- ment of Jews, even drawing Hitler's praise, despite apologizing years before for his anti-Semitic articles in the Dearborn Independent. In a 1942 letter to the ADL, Henry Ford reiterated his estrangement from The International Jew. Field Of Dreams Fields, 53, whose family name had been Finkelman in past generations, grew up in Paramus, N.J. He shares how his mother used to send him mat- zah and Chanukah candles to remind Mark Fields him to keep up his Jewishness as he traveled for Ford. His years at Ford have taken him to far-flung posts in Argentina, Japan and Europe, but Fields previously told the JN: "I have never encountered one iota of dis- crimination as a Jew during my career at Ford." Today, it's fitting the Ford family and the now publicly traded com- pany, both under the helm of Bill Ford Jr., are among the Jewish world's best corporate-family friends and a champion for many causes aligned with Jews. It was Ford Motor Co. that sponsored the first screen- ing of Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning movie Schindler's List, commercial-free, on national network television in 1997. Later, the company gave $2 million to help seed the cre- ation of Shalom Street at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield. Mervyn Manning was Ford's first Jewish officer, becoming vice presi- dent in 1977. He blazed a respected executive trail that Mark Fields seized upon with gusto – and the promise of unlimited and proud potential. ❑ Essay The Orbachs' Legacy I ndividually, they achieved professional acclaim — he as a cantor, she as an artistic director. Together, they left an indelible imprint on the bimah and on the stage. News of the April 17 death of Cantor Harold Orbach — part of the Reform cantorate for 62 years, 40 at Temple Israel in Detroit and later West Bloomfield — brought to mind the impact he and his first wife, Evelyn, had on Jewish Detroit during the heyday of their lives together. Evelyn remains a still-active local resident. They were married 55 years. The popular cantor, a sweet sing- ing tenor, was a child survivor of the Holocaust. Drawn by a love of Judaism, the Juilliard school graduate, classical concert singer and Army chaplain chose a life as a cantor over one in the renowned 38 May 1 • 2014 Metropolitan Opera Company. At Rabbi M. Robert Syme's urging, Cantor Orbach, known informally as Hal, came to Temple Israel from a pulpit in Tulsa in 1962. The Hebrew Union College graduate sang at most of my family's spiritual mile- stones, beginning with my bar mitzvah at the old Palmer Park synagogue. Interfaith and social action projects energized him. He rose to international stature as a performer, earning the Culture Medal of Israel. Evelyn toiled diligently to build up the Aaron DeRoy Theatre at the Jewish Community Center at Meyers and Curtis in northwest Detroit. There, I got to know her while serving as a teen script assistant for the actors, an inter- est I had developed during Purim plays at Temple Israel. Evelyn would go on to become founding artistic direc- tor of the Jewish Ensemble Theatre at the West Bloomfield JCC, a position she held with distinction for 21 years. She put her soul into the jet stream of that professional equity theater. After divorcing in 2007, the Orbachs stayed friends. Aware Hal's health was failing at age 83, Evelyn and their children — son Richard; daughters Sharon, Judy and Lila; four of six grand- children and a granddaughter- in-law — arrived in Bradenton, Fla., to spend Passover with him and be by his bedside. Ricky's family came from Harold and Evelyn Orbach Israel; others arrived from two states. "We wanted to give Hal some compas- sion and good feelings," Evelyn told the JN. "Hal was so warmed by our presence and although very weak," she added,"he managed to acknowledge each of us and smile as our progeny were intent on enter- taining him:' Evelyn recounted the final moments: "While very sad, we felt we had given a sweet and loving farewell to this man that meant so much to all of us:' ❑