14 | OCTOBER 1 • 2020
“Dan has always been a
visionary, can-do, optimistic
person,
” his younger brother
Gary said.
Gary Gilbert recalled many
early entrepreneurial pursuits
with his older brother. There
were times in their teen years
the brothers would buy pots
and pans from the late Isadore
“Bison” Goldstein on Seven
Mile Road and then sell them
door to door. They would walk
into office buildings, suite by
suite, and try to sell them to the
receptionist or whomever else
was there.
After hours, the brothers
would go to nursing homes.
“The night shift nurses didn’
t
have much to do, the elderlies
were sleeping,
” Gary recalled.
“In a soft voice, we would sell
them on what an incredible deal
our pots and pans were.
”
There was the time in 1981
when Billy Sims played for the
Detroit Lions, and they had
bumper stickers made that said,
“The Lions are simmering!”
and they would sell them in
the parking lot of the Pontiac
Silverdome before and after the
games. In later years, they deliv-
ered for Papa Romano’
s pizza
— including during some of the
chilliest days of winter.
Four years later, in the
summer of 1985, Dan and
Gary founded Rock Financial
Corporation, along with Ron
Berman and Lindsay Gross.
Gary said he and Dan shared a
small 10x10 room in a shared
Southfield office suite.
“There were no fax machines
yet,
” Gary recalled, “so Danny
and I would drive around
together, hand-delivering
closing papers to the title com-
panies … We drummed up
business by schmoozing with
realtors.
”
No one would have thought
that the firm could devour mar-
ket share from industry leaders.
It began with $5,000, mostly
from pizza deliveries and bar
mitzvah savings. And yet, suc-
cess ensued. In 1999, the com-
pany became Quicken Loans
and made its focus more dig-
ital-oriented; by 2018, it was
the largest overall retail lender
in the U.S.
When Rocket Companies
— the holding company of
Quicken Loans — had its
IPO this August, it catapult-
ed its chairman’
s wealth to
an unfathomable ecosphere.
Gilbert’
s current net worth is
estimated at nearly $50 billion.
When COVID-19 hit,
Gilbert told Jay Farner, the
CEO of Quicken Loans and
Rock Companies, to do what-
ever he could to help Detroit.
That included assisting with
the state’
s contact tracing
efforts and supporting internet
access within the city.
“Dan wanted to know how
we could really help,
” Farner
said. “For everything that has
gotten discussed over the years,
there are dozens of things never
talked about. Dan has sent a
plane down to pick up team
members impacted by a hurri-
cane and has stepped in to sup-
port team members diagnosed
with an illness, sometimes call-
ing in to the Cleveland Clinic to
help a team member in need.
”
ROOTED IN COMMUNITY
Gilbert is a past president of
JARC, which his grandparents
Ruth and Manuel “Manny”
Feldstein helped to start.
The Gilbert family, along
with extended family mem-
bers, have provided significant
funds over the years to JARC,
including dedicating residenc-
es in West Bloomfield and
Farmington Hills. Dan has a
special connection to JARC
through his late uncle, Robbie
Feldstein, who had Down
syndrome and passed away
recently at age 73.
Dan convinced David
Carroll, a longtime friend
and childhood neighbor,
to get involved with JARC.
Ultimately, Carroll would lead
the organization as interim
CEO and board president.
“Dan is a triple threat in
philanthropy today,” Carroll
said. “He has his own giving
Masada: AJ, Gracie, Dan, Nick, Nash,
Jennifer and Grant Gilbert
Jews in the D
His unwavering belief in the future of this city has
inspired many, myself included.”
— STEPHEN M. ROSS
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