E

ach week, Gerald 
Freedman, Harold 
Kulish, David Lippitt 
and Robert Weitz sit around a 
table of their chosen dining spot 
around Metro Detroit to bicker, 
banter, finish and cut off each 
other’s sentences. It’s the kind of 
conversation you can only have 
with friends you’ve had for more 
than 75 years. 
The four men all turn 90 
this year. Among the group is 
a wealth of information and 
knowledge of history about 
Detroit’s bygone Jewish and 
other ethnic neighborhoods. 
 They recently met at the 
offices of the JN to discuss their 
friendship and the changes 
they’ve seen in Detroit in the 
decades they’ve lived here and 
why they wouldn’t want to live 
anywhere else. 
Each Saturday for the last 10 
years or so, the friends pick a 
restaurant in Metro Detroit for 
breakfast or lunch. They had to 

take a break over the pandemic 
and even tried Zoom meetups, 
which just left them frustrated, 
they all agreed. 
Now that cases have eased, 
they are back on the dining 
circuit, at first finding places 
with outdoor seating, now eas-
ing their way back into indoor 
dining. 
Their tastes run the gamut 
from diners to delis, and they 
have a special affection for 
Middle Eastern food. Their 
favorite haunts these days are 
Phoenicia in Birmingham, the 
Stage Deli in West Bloomfield 
and Siegel’s Deli in Commerce. 

Though they might some-
times go out on Saturday 
evenings as couples with their 
wives, Saturday brunch or 
lunch is a time exclusively 
set aside for the men to catch 
up, schmooze and reminisce 
about their boyhood.
“How lucky are we that we are 
all 90, live in our own homes, 
are still married, can still drive 
and get around, and get togeth-
er with good friends,
” mused 
Lippitt, of Commerce Township, 
who worked in insurance sales. 
“(Meeting up for our weekly 
get together) provides a good 
feeling that we look forward to 

every Saturday,
” said Kulish, of 
Bloomfield Hills, who made a 
career in real estate and is CEO 
of property management firm 
Cormorant Co. 
“When women get together, 
they talk more about personal 
things than men do. Men are 
more superficial than women 
are. So as a result, what we talk 
about by and large, is current 
events and the past,
” he said. 
But Lippitt disagreed. 
“We also talk about sports 
and politics, and what’s going on 
with our houses and our family, 
too,
” said Lippitt, who has been 
married to his wife, Elaine, for 
46 years. 
“Not to mention death and 
divorce,
” quipped Weitz, of 
Huntington Woods, a retired 
school counselor who spent his 
career at Fraser High School in 
Macomb County. 
“Talking about divorce 
is kind of humorous when 
you’re 90, because you don’t 

20 | APRIL 7 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY

Friends for 75 Years

Four friends turning 90 
still get together weekly.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TOP: Robert Weitz, David Lippitt, Harold Kulish (seated) and 
Gerald Freedman enjoy each other’s company, as they have for over 
75 years, at Sahara Restaurant in Oak Park. 

