continued on page XX

APRIL 29 • 2021 | 55

CLAIRE 
CHAMBERS, 94, 
of Bloomfield 
Hills, died April 
14, 2021. 
In her words: 
“I went from nothing all the 
way to the White House; I 
had a wonderful husband that 
I adored, three wonderful 
children, six grandchildren 
and five great-grandchildren.
” 
That pretty much describes 
the life of Claire Chambers. 
From modest beginnings in 
Bay City, Mich., she moved to 
Detroit, and on a blind date 
she met the man she knew 
she was going to marry. The 
early years were filled with 
raising three young children 
and supporting an entrepre-
neurial husband.
Through the years, she 
became the perfect corporate 
wife, entertaining clients and 
hosting many parties.
In the 1980s, Claire became 
involved in the Senatorial 
Trust, supported the Reagan/
Bush administration and was 
appointed to serve on the 
board of the Kennedy Center 
in Washington. 
In later years, she became 
active in fundraising for var-
ious charities in the Detroit 
area, most notably Henry 
Ford Hospital. 
She loved her home in 
Miami Beach and enjoyed 
traveling with her husband 
and, later, her friends, children 
and grandchildren to places all 
over the world. She enjoyed a 
full and happy 94+ years.
Mrs. Chambers is survived 
by her son and daughter-
in-law, Robert and Cindy 
Chambers; daughter and 
son-in-law, Kit Chambers 
and Jeffrey Finn; daughter-
in-law, Susan Chambers; 
grandchildren, Scott (Penni) 
Chambers, Brian (Aurea) 
Chambers, Robert (Nichole) 
Chambers, Audrey (Robert) 
Trethewey, Aidan Finn and 
Delaney Finn; great-grand-
children, Cole, Cate, Matthew, 

A

t services celebrating 
the life of Thomas 
Fox, many observers 
could touch a treasured piece 
of jewelry being worn and 
experience a personal con-
nection to the man honored 
after having lost his battle with 
cancer on April 17, 2021. He 
was 89. 
Fox, a Holocaust survivor 
who escaped to Israel before 
moving to Detroit, established 
an engineering career and 
an artistic hobby, with his 
creativity continuing into his 
final days. He filled his West 
Bloomfield home with hun-
dreds of sculpted pieces and 
gave away what specifically was 
made for those who were close.
Daughter Lori Rodner wore 
a necklace made of concentric 
circles, symbolizing the impor-
tance of striving for bigger and 
better circumstances, while 
she delivered a eulogy that told 
about her dad’s devotion to 
family members, some follow-
ing in his engineering career.
“I like working with my 
hands and imagining what I 
can do,
” Thomas Fox told the 
Jewish News in 2018, when his 
daughters put together a coffee 
table book, Tom Fox: A Lifetime 
of Art, filled with pictures of his 
projects, some mechanical, that 
included works made of wood, 
metals and/or glass. “I want to 
do things that are unique.
”
When grandchildren 
Hannah and Joshua Rodner 
expressed their remembrances, 
they listed characteristics, such 
as “kindness” and “loyalty,
” to 
describe the man whose love 
so often was communicated 
through artistry. Hannah wore 
a necklace with her name 
in English and Hebrew, and 
Joshua wore a necklace with 
copper wire formed into the 

shape of a Fox head.
Before Rodner spoke about 
the functional shelf her dad 
designed to hold COVID 
masks, Rabbi Aaron Bergman 
of Adat Shalom Synagogue 
recalled Tom Fox’s early life. 
Fox was raised in an Orthodox 
Budapest household, where his 
father was a shoemaker and 
where he started experiment-
ing with equipment design and 
repair.
The rabbi told about how this 
Adat Shalom member brought 
food to Hungarians forced into 
ghettos, served in the Israeli Air 
Force and went on to design 
and repair airplane parts. An 
aunt and uncle were at the 
center of the honoree’s move 
to Detroit, where he studied at 
Wayne State University before 
obtaining employment in the 
auto industry.

CREATED JUDAIC ART
Fox’s talents could be seen 
in objects intended to depict 
Jewish history or observe rit-
uals. A member of the Jewish 
Genealogical Society of 
Michigan, he made sculptures 
representing Bible stories, 
including Moses carrying the 
Ten Commandments, Noah’s 
Ark and Jacob’s Ladder as well 
as menorahs and dreidels.

The family hopes to donate 
some religious artwork to 
Jewish organizations housed in 
local buildings. 
In illness, Fox told his wife 
of nearly 60 years that he 
would be around for her birth-
day, April 17, and he was — 
although not for the whole day. 
“My husband always kept his 
word,
” Judith Fox said. 
Mr. Fox is survived by his 
beloved wife, Judith Koenig 
Fox; son and daughter-in-law, 
Jeffrey and Kathy (Barron) 
Fox; daughters and son-in-law, 
Sandra Fox, and Lori (Fox) and 
Darren Rodner; grandchildren, 
Jack Fox, Daniel Fox, Hannah 
Rodner, Joshua Rodner and 
Zachary Rodner; many other 
loving family members and 
friends. 
Mr. Fox was the son of the 
late Sandor and the late Lenke 
(Fischer) Fux; the brother of 
the late Kornel Fux; son-in-
law of the late Anne Glicklin 
Koenig Levin. 
Interment took place at 
Nusach Hari Cemetery in 
Ferndale. Contributions 
may be made to the Jewish 
Genealogical Society of 
Michigan, Jewish Family 
Services or JewishGen. 
Arrangements by Dorfman 
Chapel. 

An Artist Remembered

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

continued on page 57

OBITUARIES
OF BLESSED MEMORY

Thomas 
Fox

