26 | MARCH 28 • 2024
J
N
A
re you an Ed Asner
fan? Ed was an
Ashkenazi Jew and
seven-time prime time Emmy
Award-winner by the time he
passed away in 2021. One of his
little-known accomplishments
is that he inadvertently made
a shidduch for a Huntington
Woods couple.
In the 1970s, Ed played Lou
Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore
Show … and Lou’s backstory
was that he had worked for the
Detroit Free Press.
At the same time and a few
states away, a certain “Martin
F. Kohn,
” originally from
Brooklyn, really did work for
the Detroit Free Press.
“One day, my colleagues and
I learned that Ed was coming to
Windsor to do a performance,
”
Marty explained. “Great
publicity! We wrote to him, and
he invited us to meet him for
dinner at Carl’s Chop House on
Grand River.
”
That’s how a bunch of Free
Press reporters had dinner with
“their colleague” Ed Asner/Lou
Grant in December 1978. Of
course, they wanted photos
of the occasion, so one asked
a photographer friend, Andy
Sacks, to join them.
Now, Andy’s sister Laura
Sacks chimed in.
“This took place on the
first night of Chanukah, close
to Andy’s birthday,
” Laura
explained. “My family and
I always came together to
celebrate both at the same time.
But now it’s all complicated
because Andy’s taking pictures
at the Chop House.
”
Long story short, Laura and
her parents decided to go to the
Chop House, too.
“My parents and I walk
into this very nice restaurant,
holding a ton of presents, and
I run over to say hello to Andy
who’s sitting at a long table with
the Free Press people,
” Laura
continued.
Ed said to Laura, “I hear
you’re a social worker and you
save the world.
”
“Well, that wasn’t exactly
true,
” said Laura. “I’m a
psychotherapist, not a social
worker. It was also the end
of the work week, and I was
exhausted. So I told him, ‘It’s
way too late in the day for me
to take that kind of bull,
’ and
went to sit with my parents.
”
Well, Ed hadn’t meant any
harm and apologetically ran
over to Laura and French
kissed her.
“In front of my father!”
laughed Laura, who turned
to her father, sure he was
going to rescue her, but Ed
said something in Yiddish
and the next thing anyone
knew, Ed and Mr. Sacks were
chatting away in the mame-
loshen. “Suddenly they’re best
buddies!”
Eventually Ed went back to
“his colleagues” and later, Andy
pulled over Laura to introduce
her to everyone.
“I was still in a snarky mood,
”
All Because
of Ed Asner!
ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
OUR COMMUNITY
HOW WE MET
LEFT: In a 1978 photo, Ed Asner
(center) goofs off with Free Press
staffers Mike Duffy (seated) and
Laura Berman and Marty kohn.