18 | APRIL 2 • 2020
J
oe Cornell was the stuff of legends. With a broad
smile, a big laugh and a ton of personality, he brought
social dancing — and etiquette — to generations of
Jewish kids in Metro Detroit and beyond.
Now his community, which includes decades of
students, teachers, friends and family, is mourning his
March 18death of natural causes. He was 90 years old.
“He was everybody’
s uncle,
” said Steve Jasgur of West
Bloomfield, who attended Cornell’
s dance classes as a pre-
teen and later co-owned the business with his sister. “He
was Jewish, but he wasn’
t Jewish — he probably went to
more bar mitzvahs than any Jewish kid in his lifetime.
”
Born Giuseppe Thomas Coronella on May 29, 1929,
to Italian immigrants, he grew up in Detroit, where his
father, Salvatore, worked for Ford Motor Company and
his mother, Sebastiana, was a homemaker. He graduated
from Cass Technical High School in Detroit and took
broadcast and acting classes at Wayne State University.
Coronella graced the dance floor of the Arthur Murray
Studio in Detroit in the late 1940s, and then had a dance
career that took off as his dance studio job sent him to
resorts around Michigan.
KAREN SCHWARTZ
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Joe Cornell’
s
death evokes
teenage
memories for
generations.
Enduring Magic
Jews in the D
TOP: At an annual Spring
Ball in the late 1970s or
early 1980s, Joe Cornell
poses with the winning
dance couple and other
couples who competed.
Right: Joe Cornell dances
with his first wife, Irene.
continued on page 20
COURTESY STEVE JASGUR
COURTESY JOE CORNELL FAMILY
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