passion, wit.”
What inspired Allen Zemmol’s
unwavering principles of — and
lifelong efforts to promote —
justice, fairness and tolerance
was a radical sense of empathy
with and irrepressible love for
all people, however similar to
or different from him and his
experience.
From the fourth-grade class-
mate he defended when picked
on by others in math class
and who would soon became
his dearest lifelong friend, to
the disenfranchised African
American citizens he helped
register to vote in Mississippi
during the Freedom Summer
of 1964, to the LGBT clients
he defended early in his legal
career and, later in life, to the
three children, 11 grandchildren
and three great-grandchildren
he could always make smile
with a horsey noise, a clown
performance at a birthday party
or words and hugs of exuberant
praise after a kindergarten or
college graduation, he lived and
modeled his ideals and moral
values.
Born in Detroit in 1930 to
immigrants from what is today
Belarus, Mr. Zemmol lived a
life marked by a profound love
for his community, his country
and for Israel. His early adoles-
cent participation in Habonim
exposed him to social justice
and Zionism, and he became a
passionate defender of the state
of Israel, always with the belief
in constructive criticism as a
radical act of friendship.
A reading binge brought on
by an adolescent bout of mono-
nucleosis spurred a lifelong
love of reading and pursuit of
knowledge, complementing his
empathy and compassion with
a broad and deep intellectual
foundation.
A widely read lover of his-
tory, always ready to share
an interesting tidbit about
the American Civil War, the
Romanovs, the Detroit Tigers or
A.J. Liebling, he never lectured,
but simply took great joy in
sharing his learning with oth-
ers.
Mr. Zemmol’s understanding
of history and pursuit of social
justice also led to decades of

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