Lee Trepeck: director, Camp Maas
and recipient of the 2017 Mandell
L. and Madeleine H. Berman Award
for Outstanding Professional Jewish
Communal Service.
Happiest
Camper
On Earth
Meet Lee Trepeck, born to run
Tamarack’s Camp Maas.
VIVIAN HENOCH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
36
February 1 • 2018
jn
W
here is the magic of Tamarack
Camps? Perhaps it lives in the legacy
of the Fresh Air Society — one of the
oldest Jewish camps in the nation, celebrating
115 years of service to families and still growing
from strength to strength — d’or v’dor — with
each generation.
Some would say that their sweetest child-
hood memories to Jewish Detroit are rooted
in those first sleep-away summers spent in
Brighton or Ortonville. And for others who
return season after season, Tamarack is a place
in the heart they call home.
If this is magic, it’s working by design, accord-
ing to Lee Trepeck, director of Camp Maas,
the summer home where it all begins for 1,000
Jewish campers from grades 2-9. Ask Lee for
five words that describe Tamarack Camps and
he’ll tell you: The. Greatest. Place. On Earth!
“I use those five words all the time to
describe where and who we are. Like a mantra,
our camp greeting is ‘Welcome Home! You have
arrived at The Greatest Place On Earth!’” he
says.
Parents, colleagues and friends all describe
Trepeck as Tamarack’s driving force: “A super
star, a one-of-a-kind professional, the wow fac-
tor in the Tamarack brand.” He remains hum-
ble, grateful for his good fortune to pursue
what Tamarack Camps Executive Director
Steve Engel calls his “first best destiny.”
“I maintain that Lee Trepeck was born to be
Camp Maas director,” Steve says. “Lee dedicates
his heart, soul and energy into every aspect of
his work while balancing his role as a wonder-
ful husband to Robin and proud father to Jamie,
16, and Andy, 13.”
Beyond his positive energy, Trepeck brings
to Tamarack an unconventional set of “camp-
ing skills,” honed by his years of experience
as a camper and staff member at a camp in
Northern Michigan, his professional training
as an attorney and his work ethic in his family
restaurant business and real estate.
Raised in Bloomfield Hills and a resident
of Huntington Woods, Trepeck has played
an active part in Jewish Detroit, assuming
leadership roles on the New Leaders Project,
Federation’s YAD Executive Board (now
NEXTGen), Israel missions and the Temple
Israel Board of Directors.
In living his childhood dream and shift-
ing professional gears over the past 10 years,
Trepeck clearly has answered his calling and
made his way home to a balance between his
family and professional life.
ON HIS CAMP EXPERIENCE AND
JEWISH JOURNEY
Q: What was your camp experience?
I grew up at Camp Sea-Gull in Charlevoix. I
started in the second grade, spent 10 summers
there and loved every minute as a camper,
a waiter and then a counselor. Those years
really showed me the values of independence,
growth, maturity and friendship that ignited
my fire to be involved with a camp someday. It’s
funny, but even as a kid I had that aspiration.
I was a kid from Jewish Detroit so, of course,
I was familiar with Tamarack where so many
of my friends spent their summers. Camp Sea-
Gull was a wonderful nurturing camp that was
less Jewishly driven, but primarily attracted
Jewish kids.
continued on page 38
JOHN HARDWICK
camp guide