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Monty Hall: TV Host And Philanthropist

T

elevision icon and phi-
lanthropist Monty Hall
died on Sept. 30, 2017,
at age 96.
For decades, Hall lived a
double life: ebullient game show
host and celebrity by day and,
when off camera, indefatigable
fundraiser and philanthropist
Monty Hall
for Jewish and other causes.
Renowned for co-creating and hosting
Let’s Make a Deal, Hall was equally if not
more proud of raising, by some estimates,
more than $1 billion for charity.
Monte Halparin was born Aug. 25,
1921, in Winnipeg, Canada, the son of
Rose and Maurice. His Orthodox Jewish
family was in the kosher meat busi-
ness, and Hall grew up delivering orders
on his bicycle. His mother, Rose, was a
schoolteacher, performer and Hadassah
regional president who Hall once called a
“combination of Golda Meir and [Yiddish
actress] Molly Picon.”
The family struggled and lived in close
quarters. Hall couldn’t afford to stay in
college, so he dropped out. Fortunately, a

Jewish businessman and
friend of the family, Max
Freed, altered the trajec-
tory of Hall’s life. When
Hall was 19, Freed, 10
years Hall’s senior, offered
to pay for Hall’s college
education, with three
conditions: His grades had
to be B-plus or higher; he
had to report regularly to
Freed on his progress; and,
most importantly, he had
to promise one day he would do the same
to a kid who needed help.
Hall seized the opportunity. He re-
enrolled at the University of Manitoba,
checking in with Freed to inform him of
his grades. In 1945, he earned his degree.
While in college, Hall performed in
musical theater productions and worked
an evening job as a radio disc jockey.
After graduating, he moved to Toronto,
where he worked at a radio station.
There, his boss told him to shorten his
name from Halparin to Hall. Restless and
looking for bigger opportunities, Hall
moved to New York in 1955 and transi-
tioned to television. Five years later, he

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

RYAN TOROK JEWISH JOURNAL

moved to Hollywood.
There his big break was co-creating
with Stefan Hatos Let’s Make a Deal,
which debuted on NBC in late 1963. It
aired until 1968 before moving to ABC,
where it ran until 1976.
The show’s legacy was its inclusiveness,
Hall said. “Let’s Make a Deal was the first
television show that used black people,
brown people, yellow people, old people,
fat people, skinny people because we felt
this was a cross section of America,” Hall
told the Archive of American Television
in a 2002 interview.
Let’s Make a Deal gave rise to a classic
probability puzzle. After a contestant has
chosen one door, and then the host offers
him the opportunity to change his mind
and choose another, should he? Would
changing his mind better his odds?
Hall had said that in “The Monty Hall
Problem,” as it came to be called, the con-
testant’s choice matters less than the way
the host manipulates the player.
Hall and his late wife, Marilyn, who
died in June, raised three children:
Richard, a television producer; actress
Joanna Gleason; and Sharon, also a tele-
vision producer. They were married for

nearly 70 years. Marilyn was an actress,
writer, producer and philanthropist.
In 2013, Hall was honored with the
Lifetime Achievement Award at the 40th
Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony. He
received a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame in 1973.
Hall had a lifelong commitment to
Judaism. He was a longtime friend of the
late Rabbi Jacob Pressman of Temple
Beth Am, where the family belonged. In
2005, Hall had his second bar mitzvah
at Temple Shalom for the Arts — today
known as Temple of the Arts.
Hall credited his commitment to
Judaism and his mother, Rose, for his
devotion to charitable giving. In fact, he
spent much of his life raising money for
charity. Causes he supported included the
children’s charity Variety International,
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Israel
Tennis Centers. He also was a regular
presence on the gala circuit, emceeing
events benefiting Hadassah, the Jewish
Federation of Greater Los Angeles,
American Committee for Shaare Zedek
Medical Center and the Jewish Home for
the Aging (now the Los Angeles Jewish
Home), among countless others. •

Kelly Joyce Cooper

K

elly lost her battle with Leukodystrophy,(also
known as Vanishing White Matter Disease), a
rare genetic disorder, on September 18, 2017
at the age of 49 years. She was the oldest known living
person with this disease and proudly contributed
to worldwide research on the disease including the
genome project at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). Major worldwide research on this disease is
now being done at Tel Aviv University in Israel under
the direction of Dr. Orna Elroy Stein.
Kelly was raised in Grand Ledge, Michigan, where
she lived independently for many years, despite her
challenges. She also worked as a volunteer medical
assistant at a Lansing nursing home, sharing her
positive energy with older adults. More recently she
lived at American House of West Bloomﬁeld where she
enjoyed a new quality of life. Kelly loved her church
friends of Lansing who continued to support her in
the past two years. She also treasured the love from her Jewish family,
their daily visits, and spiritual support from the Chabad Shul of West
Bloomﬁeld. She had a passion for helping others ...those with disabilities,
seniors, vulnerabilities of any kind and animals. She had a special afﬁnity
for Storm, her brother Eric’s dog, who made frequent visits for play time
and food treats. She cared about the environment, had a small recycling
business and encouraged others to do the same; She loved country music,
had a lovely voice, and most recently sang “Take me Home” in front of a
small audience, accompanied by her music therapist.

56

October 5 • 2017

jn

Most remarkable about Kelly was her attitude and
unbreakable spirit. Despite her progressive illness and
its limitations, she never complained, never asked “why
me” and never lost her faith. She was known for her
smile, reaching out and time for others, her positive
energy, and her quiet and loving way with everyone.
Perhaps her mother Patricia said it best:
“I think I have ﬁnally ﬁgured it out…the purpose
of Kelly’s life has been to inspire others” …and that
she did… She lit up a dark room with her smile, she
brought hope to others with her courage as she deﬁed
the odds every day, and shared her love in countless
ways. Kelly has really made a difference in her all too
short life and we will carry her legacy with us as a
reminder to do our best and be our best every day.
She leaves her parents, Richard Cooper of Waterford
and Patricia Teachout of Grand Ledge. She is also
survived by her loving siblings, Eric, Seth, Loren,
Gabrielle, Susie, Dawn, Jill and her step parents, Harriet Cooper and
Richard Teachout. A memorial service will be held at 11:30 AM on
October 28, 2017 at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 7740 W.
St. Joe Highway, Lansing Michigan 48917. Memorial tributes may be
made to the American Friends of Tel Aviv University at: https/aftau.org/
memory-of-Kelly or mailed to 39 Broadway; Suite 1510; New York NY
10006 (Major Leukodystrophy research/also known as Vanishing White
Matter Disease); or Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 7740 W. St.
Joe Highway, Lansing, MI 48917.

