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.

