NOVEMBER 2 • 2023 | 15
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A special quality of Woll’s,
Lopatin recalls, is how she was
able to connect with younger
people — young Jews, young
Muslims and beyond.
“
And it’s interesting, she’s
someone who did not have any
children herself,
” Lopatin said.
“I think someone like her brings
hope for our children that this
can be a better world.
”
To everyone who knew her,
Woll was not only a person they
wanted at their side — everyone
already felt she was at their side.
“Everyone in every commu-
nity felt (that way). And even
if she didn’t agree with them,
she definitely understood and
respected them,
” Lopatin said.
If there was any kind of dis-
connect between the Jewish
community and another com-
munity, Woll believed the com-
munities needed to lean in and
engage with each other more,
not step back and engage less.
Alicia Chandler, a past presi-
dent of JCRC/AJC, was a friend
and colleague of Woll for years.
Chandler says she’ll miss the joy
and conviction she brought to
all of her work.
“Sam was so
absolutely gen-
uine when she
met everybody,
”
Chandler said.
“That’s why people
liked her and why
she was so great at interfaith
work. She valued every person
she met as a human being.
”
A FRIEND TO ALL
To her friends, she was “Sam”:
the greatest friend anyone could
ever hope to have in life, a
constant, a rock, a cheerleader
always by their side.
“Sam’s friends crossed
socio-economic, racial, religious
and political boundaries. It
would be such a better world if
any of us could make a fraction
of the connections with each
other that she was capable of
making,
” Chandler said.
Those uniquely personal
relationships Woll forged were
on display at her funeral, which
was attended by an overflow
crowd of 1,000 people from
Mayor Mike Duggan and Sam Woll
Alicia
Chandler
Sam with Shadia
Martini and
Aisha Farooqi
at the Detroit
Stands with
Israel rally at
Congregation
Shaarey Zedek
this year.
continued on page 16
As of press time, no
arrests have been made
in the murder of Woll, who
was found stabbed to
death on the morning of
Oct. 21 outside her home
in Detroit’s Lafayette Park
neighborhood.
Detroit Police Chief
James White said Oct. 23
he is confident the killing
was “not motivated by
antisemitism.”
“Right now, the evi-
dence has not taken us
there,” White said.
White said police have
identified “persons of
interest” in the case but
were “just short” of calling
one of those people a
suspect. The investigation
is ongoing.
JAMIE FELDMAN
JAMIE FELDMAN
JAMIE FELDMAN
Sam Woll