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Their first addition, appropriately called “the
big room,” is a large, open meeting space with
a bar and floor-to-ceiling picture windows that
flood the room with natural light. One wall
contains a giant TV, concealed by two doors;
others are adorned with stunning artwork,
including an abstract expressionist painting by
the late Helen Frankenthaler.
The artist, who wanted her work to be seen
by many, was initially hesitant to sell to the
private collectors. A gallery director and David
assured her more people would likely see the
painting in the Hermelin home than in some
museums. They were right. Over the years,
thousands of guests have mingled in that
room at important meetings and grand events.
“My husband, God bless him, he loved
everybody and loved the Jewish community,”
Doreen explains. “I used to tell him, ‘OK, I’ll
do as many events as you want — you do the
speaking and I’ll do the cooking.’”

DAVID’S DESIGNS

TOP LEFT: Doreen Hermelin outside the Bingham Farms home she
has lived in and opened to presidents, dignitaries and the
community for 42 years. ABOVE: The late David Hermelin with
Hillary and Bill Clinton. TOP: Artwork adorns one full wall.

David took her up on that offer and turned
it into another building project. He added an
industrial kitchen with an enormous island
one year while Doreen was away on vacation.
She returned home to find the brand new
kitchen, with everything from soup to nuts,
and it came as a complete surprise.
“I was out of town and he put in a new
kitchen,” she says. “He designed it without me.”
Doreen says she always kept the kitchen
kosher specifically to host the Jewish com-
munity.
Years later, they added a fitness center and
indoor swimming pool (she says she tried to
talk him out of the indoor pool, too). They
made the pool room multifunctional. It can be
transformed into a meeting space by placing
large panels over the water to create a floor.

Unfortunately, David never got to enjoy the
pool room much. It was built two years before
former President Bill Clinton named him
ambassador to Norway. Not long after return-
ing home from Norway in the winter of 1998,
doctors delivered the devastating news that
David had a brain tumor. It turned out to be
glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain can-
cer. He passed away two years later at age 63.
“He faced his sickness the same way he
faced his life,” Doreen says. “He was always
positive.”
Today, positive memories and David’s
designs linger in every corner of the house,
including the garage. That’s where the event
“Rub-a-Dub” famously was born.
One year, David and friend Norman Folbe
thought it’d be fun to buy 100 scratch-off
instant lottery tickets each and see what they
might win. Word spread and soon more than
100 people, each with 100 lottery tickets,
joined the party.
A police officer knocked on the door, asking
if David had a gambling license.
“Right at that moment, someone hit a
$10,000 winner and everyone in the room
went nuts,” Doreen says. “They ended up tak-
ing David away in handcuffs and putting him
in the back of the police car. The group ran
outside throwing themselves on the car and
telling the officer, ‘You can’t take him away.’
David was urging them to stop and saying,
‘He’s just trying to do his job.’”
It all turned out to be an unforgettable prac-
tical joke — set up by a friend. The event has
since moved out of the garage; it became an
annual fundraiser for ORT.

THE CLINTON YEARS

Then there was the time President Bill Clinton
visited the Hermelin home; three times, to

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October 12 • 2017

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