56 | SEPTEMBER 1 • 2022
M
ichele Schurgin
Lachman, 77, of
Shaker Heights,
Ohio, died on Aug. 14, 2022.
Michele passed away from
pneumonia.
She was born May 2, 1945,
in Opa Laca, Florida, to Ruth
and Ben Schurgin. Her older
brother is Leon Schurgin;
her younger sister, Miriam
Silverstein; and her younger
brother, Arthur Schurgin. The
family grew up in suburban
Detroit, and her parents supported it with
a furniture store they owned.
From her early years, Michele was
an academic star, excelling in all she
undertook. She was musically talented —
later teaching children in Sunday school —
and a dancer. She read avidly all her life,
beginning at a very young age. Also, her
memory was exceptional, which her son
Joseph has inherited. She also was active
in the antiwar movement in the 1960s and
supported liberal and humane causes all
her life.
For college, she received a scholarship
to Bennington College in Vermont, where
she concentrated on English literature
and pottery. She was the top, or one of
the top students, graduating in 1967. She
proceeded on a graduate fellowship to
Brandeis University near Boston for a
year, then spent three years in Ann Arbor
as editor at the University of Michigan’s
medical school’s Mental Health Research
Institute. Prior to this, she had met her
future husband, Roy, who was in graduate
school at the university. Then she returned
to Brandeis, where she earned her Ph.D. in
English.
Her next move was to New Orleans
in 1977, where Roy, a recent law school
graduate, had found work. They married
in 1975, and their son Joseph was born a
year later. After two years in the South,
the family moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio,
where they stayed.
She took up editing, first for the Center
for Regional Economic Issues
in Cleveland; after many years
there, she became an editor at
the Federal Reserve Bank of
Cleveland until her retirement
19 years later. She was widely
regarded as the best in the
business, so acute was her ear
for the English language and
her ability to write and edit
economically.
She loved reading, and
Shaker Heights Library
offered the position of library
patron of the month, which she modestly
declined. She was a volunteer teacher of
English as a Second Language there. She
took joy in her reading group for many
years; and often when she was not reading,
she would go on long walks listening to
books on her iPod.
Michele also enjoyed travel, mostly with
Roy to Rome, Paris, Istanbul, Israel, the
Mediterranean, California, Maine (many
times), Arizona, Portland, the Canadian
Rockies (many times), and miscellaneous
trips to the East Coast and through
the Midwest. She was a wonderful and
appreciative fellow traveler and was widely
welcomed. She was less interested in the
famous tourist sites than with everyday life
experience, seeing old friends and family
and discovering new things.
She was intensely Jewish in outlook and
interests, but not so much in organized
religion. She also was quite knowledgeable
about Jewish history and doctrine,
sometimes surprisingly so given her
modest demeanor in this subject.
All agree she did not have a mean bone
in her body. Small stature, big heart.
Mrs. Lachman is survived by her
husband, Roy; son, Joseph; brothers, Leon
Schurgin and Arthur Schurgin; sister,
Miriam Silverstein.
Contributions may be made to
the Hanna Perkins Center for Child
Development, 19110 Malvern Road,
Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122-2823. Local
arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.
Highly Attuned to Life
Michele Lachman
NATALIE
APPLEBAUM, 89,
of West
Bloomfield, died
Aug. 23, 2022.
She is survived
by her children, Bradley
(Carla) Newman, Sheryl
(Joseph) Powell, Jodi (Robert)
Reel, Cheryl (Brayford) Bobo,
Steven Applebaum and David
Applebaum; grandchildren,
Gregory (Crystal) Powell,
Farrah Powell, Jason Newman,
Alana Newman, Emma Reel
and John Bobo; brother and
sister-in-law, Howard and
Meredith Goldberg; niece,
Dana (Thomas) Deasy; great-
nieces and great-nephew,
Leah, Garrett and Emma;
many other loving family
members and friends.
Mrs. Applebaum was
the beloved wife of the late
Herbert Applebaum.
Interment was held at
Adat Shalom Memorial
Park Cemetery in Livonia.
Contributions may be made to
the Dorothy and Peter Brown
Adult Day Care Program.
Arrangements by Dorfman
Chapel.
DR. LIONEL
FINKELSTEIN,
95, of West
Bloomfield, died
Aug. 21, 2022.
He is survived
by his son and daughter-in-
law, James Finkelstein and
Elnora Austell Finkelstein;
daughters and sons-in-law,
Martha and Dr. Eric Young,
and Amy and Andrew Dick;
son-in-law, Dr. Clifford
Kashtan; grandchildren,
Aaron, Paul and Sarah
Kashtan, Ian, Alexander and
Olivia Finkelstein, Rebecca
and Ben Krakauer, Julia
Young and Alex Smelson,
OBITUARIES
OF BLESSED MEMORY