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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