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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