soul
of blessed memory
Inventor And Businessman
C
harles Gelman, 86, of Ann Arbor,
died April 13, 2018.
He was born Dec.
14, 1931, in a poor neigh-
borhood in Manhattan, the
only son of Fay and Robert
Eisenberg and grandson of
Edel and Rose Eisenberg,
first-generation immigrants
from Ukraine.
Diagnosed with rheu-
matic fever at age 12, Charles
spent months in Vanderbilt
Hospital, where his scientific Charles Gelman
curiosity blossomed after the
hospital lab invited him to
help measure blood clotting rates.
He enrolled in Roosevelt Public High
School, where he devoured literature
and philosophy. He ranked third for the
New York Regents exam in Westchester
County and accepted a full scholarship to
Syracuse University.
After college, he moved to Baltimore
and worked at the Army Chemical Center
in Edgewood, Md. He conducted air sam-
pling studies and devised an innovative
test to show the presence of nerve gas
using cholinesterase, an enzyme found in
cockroaches.
Next, Charles moved to Louisville, Ky.,
to conduct hourly air samplings for the
U.S. Public Health Service. This project
inspired his invention of an automated
sequential air sampler and resulted in the
discovery of unreported nightly emissions
from a creosote manufacturing plant.
Charles married Rita Specter in 1956.
They moved to Chelsea, Mich., so he could
complete a master’s in industrial hygiene
at the University of Michigan School of
Public Health. While completing his stud-
ies, Charles was asked by his former boss
to manufacture 12 air sampling machines
based on his earlier prototype.
Charles was a rare combination of
inventor and businessman as he found
new markets for his products.
Gelman filters were used in
the pharmaceutical, elec-
tronic, chemical and beverage
industries worldwide. Gelman
Sciences eventually became
one of the largest publicly
traded companies in Michigan.
By the 1990s, the company was
developing and manufactur-
ing more membranes in more
types of devices than any other
company in the world.
Always giving credit to Rita
for raising their four children,
Charles poured every ounce of energy
into his work. He was named Outstanding
Man of the Year by the Ann Arbor Junior
Chamber of Commerce in 1967. His com-
pany received many awards, including
the Trailblazer Award from the Detroit
Science Center and the national “E” Star
(Export) Award. In 1986, Gelman Sciences
was named one of 101 Best Performing
Companies in America, ranking 58th
nationally for longevity, 83rd in productiv-
ity and 87th in sales.
In 1996, at the time of its sale to Pall
Corporation, Gelman Sciences employed
more than 900 people around the world,
with subsidiaries in Australia, Britain,
Canada, Germany, Ireland, France, Italy
and Japan, and manufacturing facili-
ties in Pensacola, Fla., Ann Arbor and
Pleasanton, Calif. Charles sought oppor-
tunities to mentor individuals, also hiring
clients from Peace Neighborhood Center.
After selling Gelman Sciences, Charles
and Rita devoted expertise and generous
financial support to numerous philan-
thropic causes. Together, they supported
the Jewish Community Center of Greater
Ann Arbor, Beth Israel Congregation,
Ann Arbor Jewish Federation, Ann Arbor
Community Center, Peace Neighborhood
Center, Michigan Theater Foundation
and many more. Charles worked tirelessly
to help build the new Ann Arbor YMCA
building and served on that board of
directors for 16 years.
In 2008, Charles and Rita endowed
the University of Michigan Risk Science
Center in the School of Public Health. In
2017, after almost 20 years on the U-M
School of Public Health Advisory Board,
the Gelmans funded the U-M Gelman
Global Scholars program, supporting
student internships and research with an
emphasis on Israel.
While visiting Theresienstadt concen-
tration camp, Charles and Rita learned
about Nicholas Winton, a young British
stockbroker, who saved 669 Czech Jewish
children from the Nazi regime. Impressed
with Winton’s story, the Gelman
Educational Foundation funded produc-
tion of a documentary film, The Power of
Good, which aired to more than 1 million
people worldwide and won an interna-
tional Emmy Award in 2002.
At Charles’ 85th birthday party, guests
spoke to the couple’s continual generos-
ity, kindness and mentoring that brought
people to their current accomplishments.
Gelman’s life was the achievement of the
American dream. He used persistence
and compassion to push beyond limit-
ing circumstances to better himself and
the world around him. He will always be
remembered as a champion of the under-
dog who shared generously from his own
success to help those in need.
A service was held at Beth Israel
Congregation, 2000 Washtenaw Ave., Ann
Arbor. Rabbi Robert Dobrusin officiated.
Interment was at Beth Israel Memorial
Garden at Arborcrest Cemetery.
Contributions may be made to YMCA of
Ann Arbor, JCC of Ann Arbor, U-M School
of Public Health, Michigan Theater
Foundation or Michigan Medicine-U-M
Hospital. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman
Chapel. •
JUDITH ANN
BROWN, 81, of
Southfield, died
April 16, 2018.
She is survived
by her daughters
and sons-in-
law, Laurie and
Brown
Michael Gonte,
and Pamela and
Andrew Schwartz; grandchildren,
Robyn and Jeff Rice, Mallory Gonte
and Jared Biller, Daniel Schwartz
and Jenna Schwartz.
Interment was at Machpelah
Cemetery. Contributions may
be made to Jewish Hospice &
Chaplaincy Network, 6555 W.
Maple, West Bloomfield, MI
48322, www.jewishhospice.org.
Arrangements by Ira Kaufman
Chapel.
MARK STEPHEN DEVENOW, 69,
of East Lansing, died April 18, 2018.
He is survived by his children,
Andrea and Mark Laderman, Bess
Devenow and Michael Bendik,
and Rachel Devenow; grandchil-
dren, Nicholas, Alexandra and
Ethan Laderman; brother, Jeffrey
Devenow; sister, Susan Devenow.
Mr. Devenow was the devoted
son of the late Chester and the late
Marilyn Devenow.
Interment was at Clover Hill
Park Cemetery. Contributions may
be made to Chabad House of East
Lansing/MSU, 540 Elizabeth St.,
East Lansing, MI 48823, rabbi@
msu.edu. Arrangements by Ira
Kaufman Chapel.
Correction
The Evelyn Shepherd obit (April 12,
2018) should have listed her date of
death as April 4, 2018.
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