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Mar x Layne & Company congr atulates
the Detroit Jewish News
for 75 years
of journalistic excellence

Lawrence Bacow

father and hard work from my moth-
er,” he notes.
Area Jews worked hard to sup-
port their families and communi-
ties, he says. His mother worked
long hours, with her son alongside
her. Broad also delivered newspa-
pers and sold shoes.
“I remember studying Yiddish and
Jewish history at a community cen-
ter and meeting new friends there,”
he says. “The Jewish community
in Detroit was tight-knit and very
vibrant.”
In 1960, he and his wife, Edye,
left Detroit with their two sons for
Phoenix to expand Kaufman and
Broad Homebuilding Corporation
(now KB Home), which he founded
in 1957. In 1963, they moved with the
business to Los Angeles, where he and
his wife still live.
When they make their annual trip
to Detroit to visit family, they head to
the Detroit Institute of Arts and also
Downtown to watch the city’s con-
tinuing development, he says.
“We both feel that Detroit gave us
an excellent public education and a
strong work ethic.”

LAWRENCE BACOW

CONGRATULATIONS

TO DANNY RASKIN &

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

ON 75 YEARS.

4189 Orchard Lake Road, Orchard Lake Twp., MI

248.865.0000

www.mezzagrille.com

Lawrence Bacow always drives by his
old home when he visits Detroit. A
Pontiac native, he still has family in
Metro Detroit and visits for weddings,
bar mitzvahs and other family events.
On his most recent trip this spring, he
and his wife drove down Woodward
from Birmingham to the Detroit River.
“We were impressed by the vitality
and the amount of new construction
in the area south of Wayne State,” he
says. “Very encouraging signs.”
Bacow, who left Detroit in 1969 to
attend college at MIT and graduate
school at Harvard, taught at MIT
for 24 years before leaving in 2001 to
become president of Tufts University.
After a decade there, he returned

Scott Raskin

to Harvard. Today, he lives in Boston,
where he is part of the Harvard
Corporation. He’s also on a number
of corporate boards and the national
Hillel board.
Bacow grew up in a tight-knit
Jewish community where life revolved
around Congregation B’nai Israel. As
a kid, he attended services, Sunday
school and Hebrew school.
As a teen, he was very active in USY,
where he served as regional treasurer.
One of his closest friends today dates
back to his USY days.
“So, one of the many things I took
from growing up in the Detroit area
was a very strong Jewish identity that
continues to this day.”

SCOTT RASKIN

Scott Raskin left Detroit after high
school in 1979, but his hometown is
never far from mind. He comes back
regularly to see his father, Danny
Raskin, who has been reviewing
Detroit restaurants for the Detroit
Jewish News for 75 years, since the
paper started publishing.
“I spent my entire childhood grow-
ing up with my dad and in restau-
rants, so I think a lot about Detroit
from that perspective,” says Scott
Raskin, who says he used to cruise
Woodward, Telegraph and Hines
Drive on weekends. He also developed
a passion for cars, which he collects.
When in town, he eats at Lelli’s Inn
on the Green, Siegel’s Deli and Sunrise
Cafe. He also always finds a way to get
to a Coney Island restaurant, which he
calls a “unique Detroit experience.”
Raskin, who serves as CEO of San
Francisco-based software company
Spigit, also chose to open a Detroit
office. “I’m really interested in what
a great environment Detroit has
become for growing a business,” he
says, adding that Metro Detroiter
Larry Freed recently joined his board
of directors.

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July 18 • 2017

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