MARCH 30 • 2023 | 65

BEN NEWMAN
Title: Owner, Detroit Institute of 
Bagels
Residence: Detroit since 2010
Family: Jessica Fullenkamp, his 
wife since 2016 and a clinical 
social worker at Ruth Ellis 
Center in Highland Park; and 
their daughter, Selah, 3
Education: Graduate, Lahser 
High School in Bloomfield Hills; 
University of Michigan in Ann 
Arbor: undergraduate degree 
in history and master’s in urban 
planning 
Hobbies: Making non-bagel 
food, jogging along the Detroit 
Riverfront and spending time 
with family and friends. 
Jewish connections: His late 
paternal grandparents, Dr. Max 
and Sophia Newman, were 
among the founders of Temple 
Israel, now in West Bloomfield, 
where Ben’s parents, Dr. Steven 
and Kathleen Newman, sent him 
and his four siblings to religious 

school. Ben had his bar mitzvah 
and confirmation in the 1990s. 
While not belonging to a 
particular synagogue, he said, 
“I admire the work happening 
with Chabad in the D and the 
Downtown Synagogue. I also 
try to embrace the Jewish 
traditions of asking questions 
and advocacy for social justice 
causes.”

perhaps why I glimpsed baskets of fresh bagels only 
on shelves in the kitchen area, rather than behind a 
counter as at other bagel shops. 
I was a walk-in the morn-ing I visited. Summer 
at the front counter pleasantly ticked off the bagel 
choices, including salt, jalapeno-cheese and the 
everything. Wanting something new to me, I chose a 
few of the rosemary olive oil bagels with chunky sea 
salt flakes on the outside — “they kept us afloat at our 
first location,
” Newman said. 
The specialty bagel had a novel taste I really 
enjoyed eating later at home with my usual 
Philadelphia-brand Chive & Onion cream cheese. But 
I could have tried DiB’s own scallion, lemon zest and 
veggie cream cheese, a popular combination. “We use 
a Philadelphia base and then mix in fresh ingredients 
like herbs or vegetables,
” Newman explained. Thanks 
to my bagel’s deliciousness, I ate a whole bagel at once 
instead of my usual half. 
For his part, Newman said, “
A hot everything bagel 
with butter is one of my favorite job perks.
”
Hours of operation at Detroit Institute of Bagels are 
currently 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday-Monday. Customers 
with vehicles can park along 16th Street, in the 
approximately 10 or so spaces in the alley between 
DiB and another building, or in a lot across Grand 
River. More parking and investment are reportedly in 
the works. 

Ben 
Newman

Ben 
Newman

Ben 
Newman

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER

Wishing our community a wonderful Passover,

filled with health, happiness and joy.

Chag Pesach Sameach!
Chag Pesach Sameach!