jews d

in
the

Born In

1942

These Detroiters — and many more
— share a birthdate with the JN.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

T

hey were born the same year as the
Jewish News, and matured along with
the newspaper. They have strong
memories of growing up in Detroit’s Jewish
community. Some graduated from Mumford
High, located in a predominantly Jewish
neighborhood of Northwest Detroit, and
some from Oak Park High, which was the
“new” Jewish high school in the late 1950s.
They have stayed in this area because of their
roots, their families or simply because it’s
home. Here is a snapshot of a few members
of the “Class of 1960,” who, like the Jewish
News, celebrate 75th birthdays this year.
Larry Jackier, a practicing attorney from
West Bloomfield, grew up in the Greenacres
subdivision southeast of Eight Mile and
Livernois. He graduated from Pasteur
Elementary School, Mumford High (where
he was captain of the tennis team) and the
University of Michigan, then turned down
Harvard Law School to attend Yale. He prac-
ticed law with his father for 19 years. Jackier’s
parents met at the University of Michigan
and had no family in Detroit when they
decided to settle here.

“The Detroit Jewish community was our
family, and we couldn’t have asked for any-
thing better,” he said.
Few of the people he knew well growing
up have left, he said. Jackier has served the
Jewish community here and in Israel. He is
a past president of the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit and chair of the
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology inter-
national board, among many other positions.
The Jewish News helped his family follow
what was happening in the local community
as well as around the world, particularly in
Israel, he said. The JN is the “glue that keeps
the Jewish community together.”
Penny Fishman Brode of Farmington
Hills retired from teaching and now works
as a manufacturer’s rep. Born in Pittsburgh,
she moved to Detroit as a child. After she
finished elementary school at MacCulloch,
her family moved to Oak Park, where she
attended junior and senior high school. She
went to college at Wayne State.
Fishman relishes memories of Saturday
matinees at the Avalon Theater and being
able to walk without worry to Northland

mall, the ice rink and the library. She often
took buses Downtown to shop or see a show.
When she was newly married, she turned
to the Jewish News to see the engagement,
wedding and birth announcements. “I once
found a job listed in the classified section,”
she said. She enjoys being part of the Detroit
Jewish community, which she sees as “gener-
ous, active and committed.”
Barbara “Bunny” Kukes Kratchman of
Bloomfield Hills is a former director of the
Michigan Council for the Arts and founder
and retired president of ArtServe Michigan.
She is on the boards of Detroit Public
Television, Michigan Opera Theatre and
Interlochen Center for the Arts. She is also
involved in Kadima and the Andrew Kukes
Foundation for Social Anxiety.
She grew up in Detroit and graduated
from Mumford High and the University of
Michigan.
Although she moved in wider circles for
most of her professional life, the Detroit
Jewish community provided the warmth,
comfort and love that made it feel like home.
“Many times, we have thought about moving

continued on page 22

Larry Jackier

20

April 12 • 2018

jn

Penny Fishman
Brode

Barbara “Bunny”
Kukes Kratchman

H. James “Jimmy” Zack