business SPOTlight

brought to you in partnership with 
B I R M I N G H A M

 

54 | OCTOBER 12 • 2023 

here’s to

CATCH is 
dedicated to 
improving the 
quality of life 
for pediatric 
patients and 
their families 
at Children’s 
Hospital of Michigan and Henry 
Ford Hospital. CATCH Night 
of Champions Hall of Fame 
induction was held recently 
for Vinnie Johnson, Linda 
Solomon and Mike Tirico. 

Former resident of 
West Bloomfield 
Dave Devries has 
joined Mark Amin 
and Cami Winikoff’s 
Sobini Films in Los 
Angeles as vice 
president. He will 
oversee development across 
film and TV for the company’s 
production and financing 
endeavors. Devries joins from Rob 
Hardy’s Rainforest Entertainment, 
where he served as head of 
development for a little more 
than two years, overseeing the 
company’s slate of film projects and 
series through their first-look deal 
with Lionsgate Television. 

Sheldon G. Larky of West 
Bloomfield received the Michael 
Franck Award from the State Bar 
of Michigan’s Representative 
Assembly. The award is given 
annually to an attorney who has 
made an outstanding contribution 
to the improvement of the 
legal profession. With more than 50 years’ 
experience, he is regarded as the longest-
serving living member of the Representative 
Assembly. He is a full-time mediator who has 
handled more than 3,000 cases and serves as 
part-time magistrate for the 52-4 Court. He’s 
written more than 100 articles and served as 
editor of the official magazine for the Oakland 
County Bar Association. His volunteer service 
with the State Bar of Michigan is extensive. 
He and his wife are long-time members of 
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, where he serves 
as head gabbai.

E

lliott Milstein of Novi 
credits his father with 
much of the success 
he has enjoyed in life.
“I went to the University 
of Dad,” he says. “He was 
a genius, and I owe him 
everything.”
Milstein, who recently 
celebrated his 70th birthday, 
comes from a long line of 
entrepreneurs. Writing a 
post on his LinkedIn page 
two years ago, he extolled 
the value of the strong work 
ethic instilled in him by his 
father and, by example, his 
grandfather.
“My grandfather, a poor, 
ignorant, illiterate peasant, 
came to this country in 1905 
and, unable to secure work, 
bought a horse and sold fruit 
and vegetables on the streets 
of Detroit,” wrote Milstein. 
“His son, my father, went 
to college, where he got 
several degrees, worked in a 
war plant and then started a 
pharmaceutical company.”
His late father founded 

C&M Pharmacal in 1943. 
A dermatological business 
primarily known for selling 
dermatological products 
to treat acne, warts and 
other diseases of the skin, 
all of C&M’s products were 
developed by the elder 
Milstein, a trained chemist.
The thing is, his son, who 
established the company’s 
first-ever outside sales force, 
growing the business’ annual 
revenue from $500,000 to $3 
million when he took over 
the reins of the operation, 
knew absolutely nothing 
about pharmaceuticals or 
chemistry.
So just how did Milstein 
accomplish that? By 
jettisoning 25 percent of 
C&M Pharmacal’s existing 
product line in favor of the 
development of Glytone — a 
line of skincare products that 
reportedly exfoliates dead 
skin cells to allow the growth 
of new, younger skin.
With the development of 
the Glytone line, Milstein 

An Entrepreneur 
and a Poet

Elliott Milstein made his mark in 
the skincare business, but he’d 
rather talk about his poetry.

DOUGLAS GLADSTONE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Elliott Milstein at 
his desk at Biopelle, 
where he worked 
from 2005-2017.

