70 | FEBRUARY 9 • 2023 

Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
The Loewenstein Legacy
A 

chance encounter led to the topic for this Looking Back. 
Recently, I attended a meeting for the Jewish Federation of 
Metro Detroit’s 2023 Motor City Mission to Israel. At one 
point, a meeting leader said: “I’
d like you to introduce yourself to some-
one you have never met, who will be on the trip with you.
” So, I turned 
around and there was Judy Loewenstein Roberts and her friend, Nancy 
(Osten) Fortier … and, I soon realized, I had a fine topic for this week’s 
column. 
By the way, I cannot tell you how excited I am to travel to Israel with 
the Motor City Mission. It will be my first trip there. 
Anyway, after introducing myself to Judy, she told me 
about an interesting and personal piece of Detroit Jewish 
history. She is the fourth generation Loewenstein still 
working in the poultry business in Metro Detroit, main-
taining a 125-year-old tradition.
As soon as I returned home, I went into the William 
Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History to see 
what I could find about Loewenstein Poultry. 
The story begins in 1898 when Judy’s great-uncle, German 
immigrant Louis Loewenstein, opened a retail poultry stand at 
the Gratiot Central Market on Cadillac Square in Detroit. It grew into a solid 
business. The first ads for Loewenstein Poultry appear in the 1920s Jewish 
Chronicle. The company even survived the Great Depression in the 1930s. As 
Marshall Loewenstein succinctly stated: “People had to eat!” (Oct. 19, 1990, 
JN). 
The second generation, nephew Max, joined his uncle Louis in 1939 and 
eventually bought the business in 1941. He led the company until his retirement 
in 1971. 
Loewenstein Poultry remained a retail store until 1954, about the time that 
Marshall, the third generation, joined the company after graduating from 
Michigan State University. The company then refocused its business upon providing wholesale 
poultry for supermarkets and restaurants.
After Max retired, Marshall soon transformed the company again. He sold the food service 
end of the business and concentrated on holiday sales, thereby becoming a food broker. Along 
the way, Marshall became known as the “Turkey King.
” It should be noted that his partner at 
the company for many years was his wife, Phyllis. Marshall passed away in 2003 (Oct. 24, 2003, 
JN).
Loewenstein Poultry experienced another major expansion in 1987 when it bought Michigan 
Cold Storage in Taylor. The company now possessed a massive cold storage warehouse. In the 
1990s, the company was the largest supplier of gift turkeys in America. About 15 years ago, 
Phyllis sold the company to Chef’s Pride Gifts LLC. By this time, the fourth Loewenstein 
generation, Judy and her brother, Richard, were carrying on the family tradition. 
Today, Judy and her husband, Scott, distribute hundreds of thousands of gift turkeys 
for Chef’s Pride every holiday season, many to customers who have been buying from 
Loewensteins for decades. They do so through distribution centers in Taylor, Grand 
Rapids, Cleveland and Boston.
For good stories from the Davidson Archive about Loewenstein Poultry, see “The Bird 
is the Word” in the Sept. 23, 1994, issue of the JN, or the article about Jewish family legacy 
businesses in Detroit that includes Loewenstein Poultry in the Oct. 19, 1990, JN.
Or do what I did. Have a nice chat with Judy! 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

