looking back
JCC day campers in the 1950s test their skills as a counselor cheers them on. Whether it’s indoors or outside, summer camp is still a fabulous get-away.
Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives
From the DJN
Davidson Digital Archive
MIKE SMITH
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
FOUNDATION ARCHIVIST
C
ruising through the Davidson Digital Archives, I ran
across a photo on the front page of the Aug. 25, 1989,
issue of the JN. My first thought was who is that guy with
tall hair and the big black mustache? Definitely looks like a
young 1980s-type guy. He was an immigrant — the article said
he was coming to Detroit from Milwaukee. The face did look
familiar … wait a second. Oh, my gosh! It is a photo of Robert
“Bob” Aronson.
If you have been around Detroit for the last 30 years, or
attended events in the Jewish Community, or read the JN
over the years, you likely know of, or as likely, have met Bob
Aronson. He is one of those people who might be considered to
have a household name in these parts.
The headline for the page read: “Milwaukee’s Robert Aronson
To Direct Detroit Federation.” After four years as executive vice
president and two years as executive director of the Milwaukee
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Jewish Federation, and a few years in New York as a community
consultant for the Council of Jewish Federations, Aronson was
moving to Detroit. “I’m excited,” he stated, “Detroit is just one
of those places known for Jewish communal work. So many
national leaders have come from Detroit.”
And, the rest is history. Aronson spent the next 20 years
as executive vice president at the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit. An article in the June 18, 2009, issue of
the JN, upon his “retirement,” cited a few of his accomplish-
ments: the move of Federation offices from Downtown Detroit
to Bloomfield Township, the creation of Detroit’s partnership
region in Israel, the Millennium Campaign for Detroit’s Jewish
Future, and the development of foundations for Jewish educa-
tion and the Jewish elderly.
Well, Bob is one of the good guys, a dedicated member of
Jewish Detroit. We were very lucky when the 38-year-old Robert
Aronson decided to make the city his home. And you will still
see him at many events and meetings around town and in his
work as Federation senior development adviser. •
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives,
available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.