32 | MARCH 11 • 2021
I
n the play Fiddler on the
Roof, Tevye the milkman’s
famous mantra was,
“Tradition, Tradition!”
But in the world of newly
“retired” lawyer Ira Jaffe,
his focus is “Transition,
Transition!”
“Some people look at
retirement as a chance to do
nothing other than sit in the
sun, play golf, read a book or
walk,” Jaffe said.
“For me, that would be like
hell.
”
In his more than half-
century as a prominent
business and real estate
attorney, Jaffe advised many
of the top local Jewish
entrepreneurs as they
established and grew their
enterprises. In their later
years, Jaffe counseled these
same influential clients as they
transitioned to retirement and
beyond.
At his Southfield law firm,
Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, Jaffe
assisted a whole generation
of Jewish philanthropists
establish foundations to ensure
their legacies and strengthen
the future of the Jewish
community.
On Dec. 31, at age 81, Jaffe
retired from the now more
than 100-lawyer firm he
founded 52 years ago — and
transitioned to the next stage
of his life with a new venture.
Jaffe has set up a consulting
firm, Ira Jaffe Consulting
LLC, to advise established
businesspeople on how to
transition their businesses to
the future, similar to work he
did for so many at his law firm.
He will have offices in both
downtown Birmingham and
his winter locale of Naples, Fla.
Most of his clients are Detroit-
based, although many of them
are Florida residents now.
Jaffe said as entrepreneurs
build successful businesses,
there comes a time to step back
and eventually step away from
running things to ensure the
continuity of the company.
“If you love the place you’re
leading, and you want it to
go on after you’re gone, then
plan for a transition,” he said.
“If you don’t end up making
a separation, then you really
have not completed the
transition.
“There are a lot a people
who are clients of the Jaffe firm
and others who have their own
attorneys of longstanding,” he
said. “People will want me to
take a look at things — as a
new set of eyes or to work out
a plan.”
Jaffe said one area he
will offer his expertise in
is the transition of family
foundations. Should they
spend down? How do they get
the next generation involved?
Often when considering
the transition plan for
entrepreneurs, family issues
are a major concern, Jaffe said.
A good business lawyer often
has to be part psychologist and
part social worker.
“I try to talk to business
owners about the potential
curse of their success,
” Jaffe said.
“You have a private plane,
a big house and a vacation
home, but what does that do
for your children? Your most
serious possession are your
children and grandchildren.”
LASTING LEGACIES
Jaffe had a long relationship
with the late real estate
developer Robert Sosnick and
still serves as chairman of the
board of REDICO, the firm
Sosnick founded.
“I worked with Bobby
when, on behalf of the
Jewish community, he led the
establishment of the Jewish
Fund, created from the sale of
Sinai Hospital to the DMC,”
Jaffe said.
The establishment of family
foundations can also leave
a philanthropic legacy for
entrepreneurs.
“I helped the late Norman
Allan form the Norman and
Esther Allan Foundation, and
I’m still president of it,” Jaffe
said. “Norman’s goal was to
give money to Orthodox and
senior Jewish causes. He also
made a major gifts to Jewish
day schools.
“
And a lot of the foundations
that are meaningful in the
Jewish community were
fostered through our law firm’s
late clients: D. Dan Kahn,
Marvin Danto, Sam Frankel
and Bill Farber.”
Most of Jaffe’s more recent
work at his law firm was
basically consulting. That’s
what he’ll be doing with his
new enterprise.
“
As long as I am able,” he
said, he will continue. “One of
my icons is Max Fisher, and
he was pretty sharp into his
mid-90s.”
In addition to his work at
his law firm, for nearly 12
years Jaffe led The Fisher
Group LLC, which handles
financial affairs of the late
Max Fisher and his family.
Jaffe stepped down at the
end of 2019 to transition
to a younger successor,
Mark Davidoff. “That’s
doing the right thing for the
organization,” Jaffe said.
“To me, that’s the mark of
success.”
Attorney Ira Jaffe forms consulting firm to assist
businesses in planning for the future.
Transition, Transition!
DAVID SACHS COPY EDITOR
BUSINESS
“IF YOU LOVE
THE PLACE
YOU’RE
LEADING, AND
YOU WANT IT TO
GO ON AFTER
YOU’RE GONE,
THEN PLAN FOR
A TRANSITION.”
— IRA JAFFE
here for it all.
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