MARCH 28 • 2024 | 27

admitted Laura. “So, when I 
learned that Marty wrote for 
the now bygone lifestyle section 
called ‘For & About Women,
’ I 
asked him, ‘What’s a man doing 
working in a women’s section?’”
Marty explained that he 
wrote things that were of 
interest to anyone, not just 
women.
“That’s when I realized this 
is a nice, good, cool, interesting 
guy … and I thought, I’m 
interested,
” said Laura. 
When Laura asked Andy 
for Marty’s phone number, he 
refused to give it to her. “He’s 
already got two girlfriends, 
one in Rhode Island and one 
in Washington,
” the protective 
brother said. 
So, Laura reached out to 
Laura Berman, another Free 
Press reporter who’
d been at the 
Chop House, and she helpfully 
passed on Marty’s number.
When Laura called, Marty 
was “sweet and interested.
” But 
their first date was “just good, 
not great,
” according to Laura. 
Marty invited Laura on a 
second date and Laura got 
straight to the point. 
“I know you were married 
before,
” Laura said. “
Are you 
interested in getting married 
again?”
“Yes,
” Marty told her.
“To me?” Laura clarified. 
“Probably!”
“That answer was his ticket 
to our third date,
” laughed 
Laura.
After 18 months of dating, 
Marty and Laura got engaged. 
Marty proposed the same night 
his father passed away. 
“I found it so symbolic,
” 
Laura said. “We had to say 
goodbye to Marty’s dad, but we 
were able to say hello to our 
marriage.
”
Of course, they sent a 
wedding invitation to Ed 
Asner - Marty jokingly wrote 

on it, “This is all your fault!” 
Ed didn’t attend the wedding, 
but he did send a telegram, 
that said he felt “delightfully 
responsible!” That telegram 
now hangs on the wall in their 
den. 
They married in May 1980 at 
the RenCen with Rabbi Milton 
Rosenbaum of blessed memory, 
who’
d watched Laura grow up, 
officiating.
Under the chuppah, Rabbi 
Rosenbaum said, “I have 
known Laurie since she was 
knee high to a nothing.
” 
“I looked from the tall rabbi 
to my 6’4 husband at my 
side, and I thought, ‘nothing’s 
changed!’” Laura laughed.
Forty years later, Ed came to 
Detroit again, to perform his 
hilarious one-man play A Man 
and his Prostate at the Canton 
Village theater. For a higher 
price, patrons could attend the 
meet-and-greet at the end of 
the show, and the Kohns, of 
course, were delighted to meet 
“their shadchan” after all those 
years.
“He didn’t remember 
meeting us,
” Laura said, “but he 
was thrilled to see the pictures 
and the telegram that we’
d 
bought along.
”
“You look better now,
” Ed 
told Laura. 

“Well, you’re not getting 
another kiss!” Laura laughingly 
shot back. “To think we met 
that night because of him, at 
least indirectly. Now we’ve 
been married 43 years, and 
it’s a wonderful marriage that 
continues to get better.
”
The couple, members of 
Temple Emanu-El, have two 
daughters: Maggie and her 
husband, Derrick George, are 
partners in law, and Anna Kohn 
helps formerly incarcerated 
people back into society. They 
also have a grandson, Spencer 
George, 7, and a dog, Bazooka 
Joe, that works tirelessly “to 
keep their family safe from 
people walking by.
” 
Now that Marty’s retired from 
journalism, he has plenty of 
time to dedicate to his passion, 

songwriting and performing 
with his guitar. Laura 
sometimes joins him on stage. 
As reported for the JN by Esther 
Allweiss Ingber in September 
2023, the couple often performs 
gigs around town.
They’ve got to be one of the 
coolest sets of grandparents, but 
with a world-famous shadchan 
like Ed Asner, is anyone really 
surprised?
It really is bashert. As 
Laura pointed out, “You’
d 
think the Detroit Free Press 
reporters would have brought 
along one of their own staff 
photographers.
” 

This column will appear biweekly. If 

you’d like to share your ‘meet-cute’ 

story, please email burstynwithjoy@

hotmail.com.

LEFT: Marty and 
Laura Kohn. 
BELOW: The 
telegram Ed Asner 
sent the Kohns for 
their wedding.