22 | AUGUST 5 • 2021

GOODBYE, DEAR FRIEND

D

anny Raskin and
I were colleagues
and friends
who shared a passion
for writing. We’d share
how sports writing
spurred each of us to
newspapering — for him
in the 1930s, for me in
the 1970s. We’d savor
how we melded our love
for newspapering and
Judaism thanks to the
Detroit Jewish News.
While celebrating the
JN’s 70th anniversary year
at a community party
in 2012, there we were,
Danny and I, talking shop
about the JN’s diversity of
readers. By then, Danny
and I had worked together
for 14 years.
Danny was best
known for an upbeat
style of writing about
local restaurants and
personalities — and for
serving as grand marshal
or ambassador for local
parades, walks or causes.
He was astute enough in
newspapering to attract
a loyal readership for a
staggering 79 years.
I grew up in a family
of Detroit newspaper
professionals: my aunt
Tavy Stone was a Detroit
News fashion writer,
cousin George Maskin
wrote about sports for
the old Detroit Times and
uncle Sam Sklar was a
Detroit Free Press delivery
supervisor. Danny, of
course, knew them all.
That gave Danny and me a
special connection.

VOICE OF DETROIT
Danny sold advertising

space for most of his JN
tenure. But he wasn’t
shy about saying he
was a writer first. That
distinction meant the
world to Danny.
From tracking Detroit’s
war heroes in his “Jewish
Youth’s Listening Post,”
to serving up upbeat
restaurant news and
personalities tidbits in
his later-revamped “The
Best of Everything” to a
retrospective on dining
in the D and its environs
via his recent back-
of-the-book column,
Danny found fulfillment,
recognition and joy in
writing.
When my wife, Beth,
and I socialized with
Danny and his wife,
Frieda, he revealed an
engrossing smorgasbord
of conversation about
living and working in
Detroit. “You bet it’s my
hometown!” he’d bellow so
other diners could hear.
Danny also would
regale us with thoughts
about Israel. Yes, he wrote
about the lighter side of

Jewish life; but he
clearly embraced the JN’s
Zionist roots nurtured by
the Purely Commentary
eloquence of JN founding
Publisher, Editor and
Columnist Philip
Slomovitz.
Danny was quick to say
he knew early that writing
was his calling. That
calling pushed him to try
poetry. Nothing had the
appeal of writing. Nothing
so inspired and humbled
him.
Writing drove, shaped
and lifted him in the early
years as he toiled in the
recording, advertising and
entertainment fields.
Later, writing helped
ground him. It surely was
a force for him to live
purposefully to age 102.
Writing ultimately
gave Danny what he so
wanted, a voice that long
resonated in his beloved
hometown.

Robert Sklar was Editor of

the JN from 1998 to 2011 and

thereafter Contributing Editor

until 2020.

ROBERT SKLAR FORMER JN EDITOR
Danny: A Writer at Heart

Robert Sklar and Danny Raskin at the JN’s 70th anniversary party
Robert Sklar and Danny Raskin at the JN’s 70th anniversary party

Mark Zarkin, Steven Lelli’s
on the Green, Farmington
Hills:
I spoke with Danny during
the lockdown. He said, “If
you need help, I would work
here for less than a $1.25
an hour because I love your
chicken soup.” That’s Danny.
He was like E.F. Hutton:
Everybody listened. After
writing about a restaurant,
people were flocking there
for the next three or four
weeks.

Stuart Raider, Michigan
Jewish Sports Foundation
board president:
Danny was the only
recipient of the Michigan
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
Danny Raskin Award. He
was a good friend to the
foundation.
My favorite story about
Danny took place at the
dinner when we honored
him. I said I hope we don’t
get a bad review. Danny
smiled at me and said, “I
don’t give bad reviews.
Sari Cicurel, executive
director of the Michigan
Jewish Sports Foundation,
added, “Danny was a good
friend to the foundation.
He always wrote about our
events, and he would often
ask his restaurant industry
friends to contribute to
our Greenberg Invitational
auction.”

Alan Muskovitz,
JN columnist:
My condolences to the JN
staff who knew Danny so
well. What a legacy! I loved
hearing about how he didn’t
share negative feedback
about a restaurant — instead
giving the proprietors advice
privately on how to improve.
A much-needed breath
of fresh air in this constant
negative feedback world we
live in.