14 | AUGUST 5 • 2021 

A

n era ended at the 
Detroit Jewish News
on July 26, 2021, with 
news of the death of community 
icon and our beloved colleague 
Danny Raskin at age 102, after 
having suffered a fall several weeks 
before. For the first time in the 
history of the paper, we have to 
move forward without him, and 
it won’t be the same. You’ll have 
to forgive us for wishing we had 
more time with someone who had 
already enjoyed so many years — 
all lived to the absolute fullest.
Danny has been with the 
paper since its beginning in 1942. 
Although he turned down found-
ing Publisher Philip Slomovitz’s 
invitation to become his associate 
editor, he offered to help by writ-
ing a column, the “Jewish Youth’s 
Listening Post,
” and he’s had a col-
umn appear in every single issue 
— every single one — through 
July 29, more than 79 years’ worth. 
Over those 79 years, Danny 
has impacted countless lives and 
shared countless stories in our 
pages and with his co-workers, 
some of them hard to believe, 
like the time he shared pie with 
the junior varsity of the Purple 
Gang or being given a watch by 
the gangster Bugsy Siegel’s former 
girlfriend or the time he sent a 
personal note to Hitler himself, 
scrawled upon a bomb by an 
American airman just before it 
was dropped. All the stories were 

GOODBYE, DEAR FRIEND

The life and legacy 
of Danny Raskin.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL 
DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL

you gave
us the
best!

Thank you, 
 Danny...

DAVID SACHS

JN Director of Editorial Jackie 
Headapohl and Danny Raskin after 
they both received honors from the 
Detroit Chapter of the Society of 
Professional Journalists in 2019.

