OCTOBER 24 • 2019 | 59

Soul
of blessed memory

continued on page 60

or Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, P
.O. 
Box 2044, Southfield, MI 48037. 
Interment was held at Hebrew 
Memorial Park. Arrangements by 
Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

ALFRED SCHWARZ, 
94, of Huntington 
Woods, died Oct. 15, 
2019. 
He is survived by 
his companion, Claire 
Levine; son and daughter-in-law, 
Philip and Susan Schwarz; daughter 
and son-in-law, Miriam Schwarz 
and Edward Katz; grandchildren, 
Rachel and Jeremy Schwarz, Jacob, 
Joshua, Hannah and Eli Katz. 
Mr. Schwarz was the beloved hus-
band of the late Gertrude Schwarz; 
brother of the late Robert Schwarz. 
Interment was held at Adat 
Shalom Memorial Park Cemetery 
in Livonia. Contributions may be 
made to Congregation T’
chiyah 
or to Hospice of Michigan. 
Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel.

M

orton Mandel, a 
Cleveland busi-
nessman who 
donated tens of millions of 
dollars to Jewish causes, died 
Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, at 
his home in Florida, according 
to the Cleveland Jewish News. 
He was 98.
His family left Poland for the 
United States in 1913. Mandel 
was born in Cleveland in 1921.
In 1940, he and his two 
brothers, Jack and Joseph, 
founded Premier Industrial 
Corp., an auto parts distributor 
that built off their uncle’
s small 
store. It became a worldwide 
company listed on the New 
York Stock Exchange in 1964 

and merged with United 
Kingdom-based Farnell 
Electronics in 1996 to form 
Premier Farnell.
In 1953, the brothers 
founded the Jack, Joseph and 
Morton Mandel Foundation, 
which has contributed to 
a number of Jewish and 
non-Jewish causes. The 
foundation has supported 
institutions including the 
Mandel Center for Studies 

in Jewish Education at 
Brandeis University and the 
Mandel Center for Advanced 
Holocaust Studies at the U.S. 
Holocaust Memorial Museum 
in Washington, D.C.
In 1990, the foundation 
launched a branch in Israel to 
support a range of programs 
there.
Mandel founded more 
than a dozen nonprofit 
organizations and served 
as president of United Way 
Services in Cleveland. He 
received a number of awards 
for his work, including the 
Presidential Award for Private 
Sector Initiatives presented by 
President Ronald Reagan.
He was predeceased by his 
brothers: Jack died in 2011 at 
99 and Joseph in 2016 at 102.
Mandel is survived by his 
wife, Barbara, their three chil-
dren and seven grandchildren. 

Morton Mandel, shown in 2018, 
founded more than a dozen 
nonprofit organizations and served 
as president of United Way Services 
in Cleveland. PHOTO COURTESY ALYSSA 

SCHMITT/CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS

Morton Mandel, Jewish 
Businessman and 
Philanthropist, Dies at 98

JOSEFIN DOLSTEN JTA

HebrewMemorial.org | 248.543.1622 | 800.736.5033 | 26640 Greenfield Rd, Oak Park, MI 48237

ENTERING OUR SECOND CENTURY 
OF CARING AND RESPECTFUL SERVICE

WE ARE THE COMMUNITY 
FUNERAL HOME

Death is not a business –
It is a time for understanding your needs