26 | FEBRUARY 23 • 2023 

OUR COMMUNITY

B

enjamin Craine, 78, 
of Bloomfield Hills 
was a successful 
business owner, a dedicated 
photographer, a tireless 
motivator and an endless 
source of encouragement to 
all who knew him. 
To his daughter Ellyn 
Davidson of Huntington 
Woods, he was also a mentor, 
a business adviser and, above 
all, a best friend. After Ben 
passed away June 26, 2022, 
Ellyn, a marketing executive 
and CEO of Brogan & 
Partners, found a unique way 
to memorialize her father 
while sharing the life lessons 
he taught her. She started a 
series of online posts she calls 
“lessons from Ben.”
“I’m going to start using 

LinkedIn to share things I 
learned from my dad,” she 
wrote in her first post a few 
weeks after his death.
“One of my favorites: Every 
business deal should be a 
win-win for both parties. In 
other words, there is never a 
reason to walk away feeling 
like you got the short stick in 
a deal. And you never want 
to be the person on the other 
side feeling that way, either. 
#lessonsfromben.”
That first post received 283 
likes and 137 comments. One 
of Ellyn’s followers, Michael 
Lutz, replied saying the lesson 
resonated with him.
“That has always been 
my mantra, win-win-win,” 
he wrote. “Taught to me by 
the generation of men who 

preceded me. That generation 
of creators, entrepreneurs and 
mentors have left us so much 
to be embraced. Thanks for 
sharing.”

IMPORTANCE OF SMILING
A few weeks later, another les-
son from Ben emerged. This 
one focused on smiling.
“It’s been eight weeks since 
I’ve seen your smile, Dad. 
And today I’m sharing the 
simplest, but possibly most 
important lesson you ever 
taught me. Always answer 
the phone with a smile on 
your face. It makes you sound 
friendlier,” she wrote. “The 
day you first shared that with 
me is forever ingrained in my 
memory. I was 14, working 
at The Photo Center, and the 

phone rang. I answered with 
my usual, ‘Good afternoon, 
The Photo Center, how can 
I help you?’ You were on the 
other end and could tell by 
my tone I wasn’t smiling. 
And that’s when you shared 
your tip. I soon realized that 
answering the phone with 
a smile could change the 
entire tone of a conversation. 
#lessonsfromben.”
Additional lessons 
covered topics of friendship, 
commitment, communication 
and more. Ben learned these 
important life hacks over 
nearly eight decades. He 
served as president of the 
B.H. Craine Company in 
Farmington Hills, a supplier 
of wholesale packaging 
papers to distributors from 

Ellyn Davidson keeps her late father’s memory alive through online posts.
Lessons from Ben

ROBIN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Ellyn Davidson 
and her late 
father Ben 
Craine