JULY 14 • 2022 | 13

DAN LEVITSKY

Dan Levitsky was an active member of the
Jewish Community Center and its club pro-
grams, such as basketball and softball. His
favorite memory of his high school years? His
friends. “
After 60-some years, we’re still friend-
ly with each other,” he said.
After high school, Dan went to Wayne State
and then University of Michigan to finish
dental school. He spent a few years in the Air
Force before coming back to Detroit, opening
his own dental practice in Farmington Hills,
marrying Dottie and having a family with chil-
dren Diane and David.
Diane and her husband, Jonathan, live in
San Diego, with their twin daughters, Abigail
and Charlotte. David is in Colorado.
Dan retired 15 years ago, and he and Dottie enjoy traveling the
world, having been to every continent. He calls himself an amateur
photographer and enjoys wildlife photography.
He is on the board of the Sino-Judaic Institute, with a focus on
Chinese-Jewish relations, and he is an active member of Metro
Detroit’s Jewish community.
“I’ve had a wonderful life, full of adventure,” he said.

DOUG ROSS

Public servant, policy maker and educator
Doug Ross remembers doing an entire come-
dy skit with Sue Rice for a full auditorium of
students. “We made fun of teachers and of the
world of Mumford. Why they let us do it I’ll
never know,” he said. “Getting my first article
printed in the Mumford Mercury was also mem-
orable.”
Doug, a lifelong Detroiter, spent stints in
Washington, D.C., to work on Capitol Hill and
in the Clinton administration. His career has
been diverse, combining public service and
education. On his list of achievements: state
senator, Michigan Commerce director, U.S.
assistant secretary of labor, senior adviser to
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and, in education,
founder of University Prep charter schools and chief innovation
officer for the Detroit Public Schools, among others.
His proudest achievements include leading the effort to repeal
the sales tax on food and medicine and making Michigan the sec-
ond state in the nation to default prescriptions to generics.
Ross has stayed involved in the Jewish community as a member
of the former Birmingham Temple and serving on what was then
the Jewish Community Council and as a member of the American
Jewish Committee.
He’s married to Karol. They share sons Mitchell and Doug, and
five incredible grandchildren.

BARBARA “BUNNY” KUKES KRATCHMAN

Barbara “Bunny” Kratchman’s high school let-
ter sweater shows she was on the tennis, golf
and basketball teams. “However, one other
memory stands out (aside from boyfriends)
that changed my life,” she said. “
As a senior, I
took a class on current affairs. The textbook
was the daily newspaper. Friday, we had a quiz
on the week’s events.
“This was the catalyst for my interest in
politics.”
Barbara built a career in politics, beginning
as an aide to Sen. Jacob Javits of New York
during the Vietnam era. On her return to
Michigan, she continued political work with
Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard, who appointed
her director of the Michigan Council for the
Arts. “My career then evolved even deeper into the arts and cultur-
al community, where I remain active today,” she said.
Barbara calls her youth growing up in the Seven Mile and
Livernois area in Detroit as “idyllic.”
“We all knew so many of the houses and families up and down
the streets. This made it a real community,” she said. “We’d ride our
bikes everywhere and, on Saturdays, we would ride to Billy’s Deli
for lunch. It seemed to be a much simpler and more relaxed life
than today.”
Barbara and her husband, Michael, have four sons, a daughter,
and six grandchildren ranging from 7-25 years old. She remains
active in the Jewish community.
“I guess I do not let much grass grow under my feet,” she said. “I
continue to support the Jewish Federation, am active at Shaarey
Zedek, but I am most excited about the Creative Expressions
Program that I established with Kadima.”

MARK HAUSER

Mark Hauser says his favorite memory of
Mumford High School was the competition.
“The competition to get good grades at
Mumford was almost as tough as the
University of Michigan,” Hauser said.
His competitive drive from high school led
him to the University of Michigan for under-
grad and then Wayne State University where
he served as a senior editor of the Wayne Law
Review and earned his law degree. He went on
to establish his own law firm, Maddin Hauser,
where he still practices.
Mark stays connected to the Metro Detroit
Jewish community. He is a member of Temple
Beth El, is past president of the United Jewish
Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit and has
served as a national vice chairman and member of the executive
committee of Jewish Federations of North America. His great-
est achievement, however, is winning the Fred M. Butzel Award,

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