OF BLESSED MEMORY

MARCH 18 • 2021 | 39

continued on page 41

IRVING COHEN, 
93, of West 
Bloomfield, died 
March 6, 2021. 
 
He is survived 
by his sons and 
daughters-in-law, Dr. Randy 
and Dr. Alice Cohen, Howard 
and Susan Cohen; daughters, 
Ronna Sabbota and Pamela 
Siegel; grandchildren, Leah 
and Benjamin, Samantha and 
Michelle, Zachary and Kaylee; 
many other loving family 
members and friends. 
Mr. Cohen was the beloved 
husband of the late Arlene 
Cohen.
Interment was at Machpelah 
Cemetery. Donations may be 
made to the American Heart 
Association or to a charity of 
one’s choice. Arrangements by 
Dorfman Chapel.

LAURICE 
COVENSKY, 43, 
of Bloomfield 
Hills, died March 
7, 2021. 
She is survived 
by her parents, Edith and 
Harvey Covensky; brother, 
Jeffrey Covensky. She was the 
loving aunt of Ainsley and 
Aden Covensky; she is also 
survived by many other loving 
family members and a world 
of devoted friends. 
Interment was at Machpelah 
Cemetery. Contributions may 
be made to Hillel of Metro 
Detroit. Arrangements by 
Dorfman Chapel.

SIDNEY FORST, 101, of 
Chicago, formerly of Detroit 
and Southfield, died March 
4, 2021. 
He is survived by his sons 
and daughters-in-law, David 
and Carla Forst of Birmingham, 
Robert and Kelly Forst of 
Celebration, Fla., Chaim and 

OBITUARIES

F

rank Kelley, the longest-serving state 
attorney general in Michigan history, 
was, as you might guess from his name, 
born an Irish Catholic.
But what you may not know is that through-
out his life and career, he had a uniquely close 
relationship with the Jewish community, and he 
relied heavily on two brilliant Jewish deputies in 
modernizing the role of his office.
Kelley, who died March 5, 2021, at the age of 
96, grew up in a Detroit where the racist broad-
casts of Father Charles Coughlin 
blared from many a radio, and 
there was a nasty streak of 
antisemitism among, too, many 
Irish Americans. But, that wasn’t 
true in Frank Kelley’s home.
“My father used to say, ‘the 
Irish have been discriminated 
against for 500 years. But our 
Jewish neighbors have been dis-
criminated against for 5,000 years, 
and yet we’ve both found freedom 
and opportunity in America.
’” 
 Frank said, “No slurs against Jews were toler-
ated,
” either in their home or the rather elegant 
speakeasy the elder Frank Kelley ran.
That attitude helped the future attorney gen-
eral when he was a teenager and got a badly 
needed job in retail selling men’s clothing at the 
old United Shirt store on Michigan Avenue, a 
store he remembered as being run by “a fine 
Jewish guy of Dutch descent named Sam Van 
Horn.
”
This was just supposed to be a temporary job 
during the Christmas rush. Times were hard, 
money was tight, and Kelley told me “that was 
a different era. Many customers would make 
antisemitic remarks, especially when they want-
ed to return things. That didn’t sit well with 
me.
”
Kelley responded by saying, “Now, why are 
you saying that? We’re just normal people like 
you.
” 
When the owner found out about that, he 
told the manager, “Keep the kid on for as long 
as he wants.
”
“Consequently, I was the only gentile retained 
after the Christmas rush,
” Kelley told me, 
laughing, many years later. 

JEWISH ADVISERS
But his best and most intense collaboration 
was yet to come. When Michigan Attorney 
General Paul Adams resigned to take a state 
Supreme Court seat in December 1961, Gov. 
John Swainson appointed Frank Kelley to the 
job, and he instantly made Leon Cohan, who 
was already an assistant attorney general, his 
chief deputy.
Cohan became his chief partner in remak-
ing the office and redefining what the job 
of Michigan Attorney General 
should be. Until Frank Kelley, 
attorneys general had mostly 
been reactive, defending the state 
and its officials when they were 
sued. Kelley, with a strong assist 
from Cohan, made the office an 
aggressive crusader on behalf of 
the people.
He started a Consumer 
Protection Division and appointed 
a Jewish woman and Yale Law 
School graduate, Maxine Boord 
Virtue, to run it.
Cohan also took him on a trip to Israel in 
1971, when Frank Kelley was preparing to 
run for the U.S. Senate. There, Kelley told me, 
“I had a chance to chat with four of the most 
impressive people in Israel — Prime Minister 
Golda Meir, Abba Eban, Defense Minister 
Moshe Dayan and Ariel Sharon.
” He found 
Dayan the most impressive larger-than-life 
figure.
Kelley lost the 1972 election but remained 
Michigan’s attorney general till 1999. When 
Leon Cohan left to become chief counsel for 
Detroit Edison in 1973, Kelley elevated Stanley 
Steinborn, a man he had hired in 1963, to be 
his chief deputy, a job he kept till retiring in 
1997.
“My dad taught me how to look at the world,
” 
Kelley told me. “But I’m sure he couldn’t have 
imagined that his son would not only be the 
nation’s longest-serving attorney general but 
would also benefit immensely from two superb 
deputies who were both Jewish.
” 

Longtime political analyst Jack Lessenberry is the co-author 

of The People’s Lawyer: The Life and Times of Frank Kelley 

(WSU Press, 2015).

Longtime attorney general was a friend to Jews.
Remembering Frank Kelley

JACK LESSENBERRY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Frank Kelley

SETT95 VIA WIKIPEDIA

