metro >> on the cover

WSU Press salutes

Leonard Simons

during 75th anniversary.

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LLONARD N. SIMONS BUILDING

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Leonard N. Simons Jewish Commun ity Arc hives

Barbara Lewis I Contributing Writer

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Wayne State University

University Press
' Textiles
Psychology

Leonard N. Simons stands in front of the WSU Press Building, which was

named after him on his 90th birthday in 1994.

"Books are the memory of mankind.'

— Leonard N. Simon'

M

any members of
Detroit's Jewish
community are
looking forward to Sept.
30, when a hidden jewel,
the Wayne State University
Press, will celebrate its 75th
anniversary at a reception
honoring the late Leonard
N. Simons and his daugh-
ter, Mary Lou Zieve. Both
played important roles in
the Press' development.
The WSU Press is known
internationally for several
specialty subjects, includ-
ing Detroit and regional
studies, film and television,
fairy tales and folklore,
Africana and Judaica. Its
success in Judaic studies
can be traced, in large part,
to Simons.
The Press was started in
1941 by a group of faculty
members who wanted to
assist the university in
encouraging and dissemi-
nating scholarly learning,
said Press Director Jane
Ferreyra.
In the early 1950s, busi-
nessman and philanthro-
pist Simons and his friend
Charles Feinberg, both
ardent book lovers, met
with several other busi-
ness executives to form a
committee that would help
the Press raise funds and

become a first-rate publish-
ing enterprise.
"I didn't know anything
at the time about the
press:' Simons told the JN
in a 1992 article about the
WSU Press' 50th anniver-
sary. "But I always loved
books:'
In 1955, Simons,
Feinberg and another
friend, Reuben Ryding,
presented their plan: Press
"advisory board" members
would pay annual dues
of $100, which would be
matched dollar-for-dollar
by the university, to under-
write the cost of publishing
books. Their goal was to
have a board of 50, produc-
ing an annual subsidy of
$10,000 ($5,000 from dues
and $5,000 from the uni-
versity).
Simons served as head
of the advisory board and
introduced many Jewish
supporters to the Press. By
the end of 1958, the group
had 64 active members,
and the Press had a subsidy
of nearly $50,000.
With Simons' encourage-
ment, Detroit business-
man Morris Schaver and
his wife, Emma, set up a
fund to enable the Press to
publish books in the area of
Judaica.

Simons and his wife,
Harriette, dedicated an
endowed family fund for
publishing books of Judaic
and regional interest.
Support for Judaic pub-
lications also comes from
the Bertha and Hyman
Herman Memorial Fund,
set up in 1990 by their son,
WSU professor Martin
Herman; the Goldman
Scholarly Publication Fund,
established in 2001 by
Marsha and Jeffrey Miro to
support women's studies,
Jewish studies, art history
and regional studies; and
the Raphael Patai Series
Jewish Fund, established in
2015 through Patai's estate
to support a series of books
on Jewish folklore and
anthropology.
Over the years, the
Judaica section has devel-
oped several sub-special-
ties, including folklore and
anthropology, gender stud-
ies, Holocaust studies, art
and music, and translations
of books originally pub-
lished in other languages in
Europe and Israel.
Some titles are what
Ferreyra called "esoteric
history:' such as a book
about the education of
Jewish girls in Czarist
Russia.

continued on page 14

12

September 22 2016

JN

