OCTOBER 13 • 2022 | 21

heading up Federation’s Israel 
and Overseas Allocations 
Committee, have been mean-
ingful. 
“In everything he did, he 
always got into the details of 
each task, and he always kept a 
certain big-picture perspective 
of what this meant to the entire 
community,
” Neistein says. “He 
has an ability to not only attend 
to the details and the pieces that 
go into that, but he understands 
how the pieces fit together.
” 
As an individual, he not only 
represented the Federation and 
Foundation very well, but also 
conveyed a sense of caring and 
connection to the people he 
met, says Neistein, recalling 
among other moments the time 
Rosenthal was co-chairing a 
large mission to Israel and took 
time prior to the event to sched-
ule a series of prep sessions to 
help people — many first-time 
travelers to Israel — to pack 
most effectively. 
“He used it tongue-in-cheek 
as a way to get people comfort-
able with each other and excited 

to go,
” he says. “That was the 
kind of thing he did.
”
Rosenthal makes himself 
available to help, Neistein adds, 
citing a flood in Oak Park in 
2014 where Rosenthal leapt into 
action to help secure water heat-
ers and other mechanical equip-
ment for area residents. “It’s just 
that kind of ‘I’ll put down what 
I’m doing because community is 
very important to me,
”’ he says.
Rosenthal, who graduated 
with a BA from University of 
Michigan and got his law degree 
at Wayne State University, 
worked as a lawyer at Schlussel, 
Lifton, et.al 1973-1982 and 
has been the CFO of Madison 
Electric Company since 1982. 
Marty and Ben are the proud 
parents of Rachel Rosenthal, 
who resides in New York, 
Jenny and Jordan Glass, and 
the grandparents of Talia and 
Emmett Glass.
“I’ve had a great life and a 
lucky life,
” he says. “I did three 
smart things in my life. I mar-
ried Marty, I had my children 
and I gave up the practice of law. 
And all of those things together 
allowed me to be active in the 
community and have Marty 
with me who did as much, as far 
as I’m concerned.
” 
Past Butzel Award recipients 
have included Max M. Fisher, 
William Davidson, David and 
Doreen Hermlein and, most 
recently, Norman A. Pappas, 
Daniel Gilbert and Lawrence A. 
Wolfe. 

Ben 
Rosenthal

The JFMD/UJF Annual 
Meeting, where Ben 
Rosenthal will be present-
ed with the Butzel Award, 
takes place Thursday, 
Oct. 13, at 7:30 p.m. at 
the Berman Center at the 
JCC in West Bloomfield. A 
virtual option in available. 
Details at https://jlive.app/
events/2571.

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