52 Febraury 14 • 2019
jn

soul

of blessed memory

M

any knew and respected 
Marvin Berman during his 
long, successful association 
with Farmer Jack supermarkets. He 
was always “Mr. Berman” 
at work, but at home with 
family — his No. 1 role — 
he adored being Marilou’
s 
husband, “Dad” to their 
four children and “Papa 
Marv” to the eventual 10 
grandchildren.
Marvin Berman, 86, of 
West Bloomfield, died Feb. 
3, 2019, following a brief 
illness. 
His funeral service took place in the 
Davidson-Hermelin Chapel at Clover 
Hill Park Cemetery in Birmingham. 
Officiants were Temple Israel Rabbi 
Jennifer Kaluzny and Assistant Cantor 
Leonard Gutman of Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek.
The son of Russian immigrant 
parents, Marvin Berman was born in 
Detroit to Anna and Ralph Berman 
on June 30, 1932. He and his twin 
brother, Sherwin, were the youngest 
of five children. After graduating from 
Central High School, Marvin earned a 
bachelor’
s degree at today’
s Michigan 
State University and a master’
s in 
business education at Wayne State 

University.
As cousin Gilbert Borman tells it, 
the Berman family was always in the 
food business. Peretz and Iteh Berman 
came to America with children 
Tom, Al, Ralph, Harry and 
Goldie. “Two brothers changed 
their names to Borman, but 
[whether] Berman or Borman, 
the family all worked togeth-
er and all their children also 
worked in the business,” 
Gilbert said.
The brothers operated stores 
through the Great Depression 
and World War II, eventually merg-
ing them into Borman Foods. As a 
young teenager, Marvin learned the 
grocery trade from his father, the head 
produce buyer. Marvin worked his 
way up to head of store operations. At 
its height, the Bormans’
 Farmer Jack 
supermarket chain included more 
than 80 stores. Marvin, the company’
s 
executive vice president, was valued as 
a “forward-thinking leader who knew 
how to manage people, stores and sys-
tems,” Borman said. 
Marvin worked more than 80 hours 
a week and was Farmer Jack’
s lon-
gest-tenured employee. He stayed on 
to share his knowledge after the chain 
was sold. 

“He was detailed-oriented, disci-
plined and prepared,” Rabbi Kaluzny 
said in her eulogy. “He required excel-
lence from himself, and he expected it 
of you as well.” 
Marvin took his role of father 
and husband as seriously as his role 
at Farmer Jack. Judaism was very 
important to him. Because he worked 
in retail, he made Sunday the family’
s 
Shabbat, a day of rest for everyone to 
be at home together.
Marilou (Feldstein) Berman was the 
matriarch. Marvin met her on a blind 
date at Sandy Beach in Waterford after 
his military service in Nance, France, 
during the Korean War. They married 
in March 1956 at CSZ.
Although Marilou passed away 23 
years ago, Marvin kept her memory 
alive for the family through stories and 
pictures. “Marilou was his everything,” 
Kaluzny said. “He would choke up 
saying her name.”
Shaarey Zedek honored Marvin 
with an aliyah on the yahrzeits of 
Marilou and his parents. 
“We would put tefillin on together,” 
said Rabbi Tzvi Schechtman of West 
Bloomfield-based Friendship Circle. 
Marvin immediately signed up for 
FC’
s Family Mission to Israel in 2015. 
“To be able to see Israel through 
the eyes of his granddaughter Carlie 
(Suris), who has cerebral palsy, was 
one of his significant life experiences,” 
said Marvin’
s brother, David Berman.
Ryan Sakwa eulogized “Papa Marv” 
as “the world’
s greatest grandfather.” 
“To his 10 grandchildren — he was 
our leader, our hero. We were his side-
kicks,” Sakwa said. 
Among his attributes, Papa Marv 

was known for telling corny jokes, 
radiating a natural warmth and kind-
ness, being curious about science, pol-
itics, business and human nature, and 
possessing a “humility that empow-
ered him to never stop learning from 
others.” 
Marvin’
s home was his castle and his 
much-admired backyard was an oasis. 
“He insisted on building and fixing 
things himself,” Sakwa said. “But the 
most important thing Papa Marv built, 
his most beautiful project, was his 
family.” 
He is survived by his children, 
Randi (Berman) and Stuart Sakwa, 
Deborah (Berman) and Eric Suris, 
Steven and Kimberly (Morgan) 
Berman, and Michael and Michelle 
(Fenberg) Berman; grandchil-
dren, Ryan Sakwa (fiancee, Brooke 
Schulman), Hayley Sakwa, Ashley 
Sakwa, Eli Suris, Ari Suris, Carlie 
Suris, Benjamin and MarliAnna, Jesse 
and Dylan Berman; brother, David 
(Diana) Berman. 
Mr. Berman was the beloved hus-
band of the late Marilou Berman; the 
loving brother of his twin, the late 
Sherwin Berman, the late Peryle Moss 
and the late Lucille Rossen Steinberg; 
devoted son of the late Ralph and the 
late Anna Berman. 
Interment was at Clover Hill Park 
Cemetery. Contributions may be made 
to Friendship Circle, 6892 W
. Maple 
Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322; 
Bear Hug Foundation, 139 W
. Maple, 
Suite F, Birmingham, MI 48009, 
thebearhugfoundation.org; or to a 
charity of one’
s choice. Arrangements 
by Ira Kaufman Chapel. ■

‘Humility Empowered
Him to Never Stop 
Learning from Others’

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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