Jews in the D

16 | OCTOBER 1 • 2020 

style. He uses his moral per-
suasion to impart the impor-
tance of philanthropy in oth-
ers, and he has created wealth, 
jobs and employment within 
the firm and for vendors of the 
firm to now have the capacity 
to help advance the communi-
ty as well.” 
Family has informed much of 
what Gilbert does. “There are 
a lot of people along the way 
who should share in this award, 
especially my wife,” he said. 
Jennifer Gilbert is a serial 
entrepreneur in her own right, 
having founded interior design 
companies Pophouse, Doodle 
Home and Amber Engine. She 
is president of NF Forward, a 
neurofibromatosis charity, and 
serves on multiple boards.
“I am so proud of the man 
Dan is,” Jennifer said. “Of 
course, he is known for his 
impact as a businessman. But I 
think his most important role 
is within the walls of our own 
home. He is a loving father 
who provides an incredible 
example of philanthropy and 
using time and energy to make 
the world a better place. Not 
only for our kids, but for gen-
erations to come.” 
The Gilbert children have 
caught the business bug, as 

well. Dan’
s son AJ recently 
reached a million dollars in 
sales with his own company, 
Zuplift, which makes ethically 
sourced branding and promo-
tional content.
The Gilbert Family 
Foundation has also become 
one of the largest donors in the 
nation to advance treatments 
around neurofibromatosis, an 
issue the family has felt per-
sonally through their son Nick.
The foundation is “going to 
take on more of a brand name 
soon,” Gilbert said, “as we 
promote the foundation and 
it really gets involved in some 
major projects.” 
Joyce Keller is the foun-
dation’
s executive director 
and has worked alongside 
the Gilberts for more than 
a decade. Though she said 
medical research has been the 
foundation’
s primary goal, 
“we’
re now going deeper into 
the other piece of our portfolio, 
which is Detroit.”
The Gilberts also signed the 
Giving Pledge in 2012, signaling 
their commitment to donate the 
majority of their wealth. 
Dan said, “All the dollars 
that come into the foundation 
will dwarf what the foundation 
itself has given out recently 

because we didn’
t even know 
the kind of assets that we’
re 
going to fund it with very 
soon.
“I would hope people will 
think we are upholding Jewish 
values,” Dan said, referring to 
the phrase “whoever saves one 
life, saves the world.”
In their teen years, Gary 
remembers his brother tell-
ing him that he wanted to 
own a sports team one day, 
and saying, “When we’
re in 
our 50s, there will be people 
our age doing big things, so 
it may as well be us.” Today, 
Dan is majority owner of the 
Cleveland Cavaliers.
“That shows you how much 
of a ‘
sky’
s the limit’
 guy he was 
right from the start,” Gary said.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES 
Dan credits Dr. Steve 
Adamczyk, an emergency 
medicine specialist, with saving 
his life. The two knew each 
other from coaching their sons’
 
basketball games. They were 
together with their spouses the 
night when Dan began to face 
abnormal visual issues. 
After a couple of hours of 
convincing from Adamczyk, 
Dan headed to the hospital. 
Adamczyk, born and raised in 

Bloomfield Hills, now works as 
a full-time medical adviser to 
Rock Ventures.
The experience has also 
deepened Gilbert’
s perspective 
on faith. “I wouldn’
t say I’
m a 
very religious guy, but I believe 
in spirituality and spirit and 
all that,” he said. “When you 
have what happened to me 
happen, you start to really get 
some perspective on that and 
all the time to think your way 
through things, so I would 
say it’
s grown. I feel very, very 
strongly that there’
s spiritual 
existence out there everywhere. 
You just have to figure out how 
to tap into it.”
At the culmination of the 
High Holiday season this fall, 
it will be near the 500th day 
since Dan raced, in the darkest 
hours of the night, to the hos-
pital that May evening. 
Dan, given the chance to have 
more time with Jennifer and 
children AJ, Nash, Nick, Grant 
and Gracie, embraced a mindset 
he’
s long articulated as an entre-
preneur. A value often learned 
far-too-late by way too many:
Every second counts.
Time, not money, is the most 
valuable commodity of all.
Time can never be 
replaced. 

continued from page 14

LEFT: Gilbert and James Chapman, CEO Plain Sight, April Anderson co-owner of Good Cakes & Bakes, a Demo Day winner. RIGHT: With Big Sean, a rapper/music artist from Detroit.

