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