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

continued from page 13

continued on page 16