62 | APRIL 25 • 2024 J N Looking Back From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at thejewishnews.com The Colorful Tale of Mercury Paint I think that today’s column may be my favorite type of “Looking Back.” It begins by having a casual chat with a Jewish Detroiter, which provides me with an idea for a great story of Jewish Detroit history. Case in point: Several weeks ago, some members of Bus #3 from the Motor City Mission to Israel in March 2023 (Bus #3 is the best!) met for coffee. So, at this mini-reunion, I’m talking with my friend Mitch Mallin. While we were chatting, another Bus #3er, Mark Milgrom, arrived. Talking between ourselves, Mitch and I agreed that Mark is a good guy. Then, Mitch says: “Did you know that Mark’s family, along with the Sobermans, owned Mercury Paint in Detroit?” I said, no, I did not know that — Mark is a modest person and has never talked about this during our conversa- tions in Israel or afterward. This sounded very interesting to me, and I decided to see what I could find about Mercury Paint in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. I figured that a good story might be waiting in the Archive. And, indeed, there was — for more then 60 years, Mercury Paint was a well- known Detroit product, owned by the Soberman and Milgrom families. The company was founded by Jacob Soberman and Max Milgrom, young friends who had immigrated to Detroit from Ozarow, Poland, in 1913. Both were also house painters, and most important, entrepreneurial. So, after a few years in the city, they borrowed a few dollars and founded Soberman & Milgrom Co. in 1919. They sold wall coverings until, in 1921, the Soberman & Milgrom Paint Co. began selling paint from a store at Hastings and Alfred, in Detroit’s historic Jewish neighborhood of the early 20th century. Sadly, Max Milgrom died at the age of 39. This was a severe blow to the family and the company, which temporarily closed. However, Jacob Soberman and Max’s widow, Fannie, soon reorganized the business and reopened. The firm began manufacturing their own brand of paint in 1934 and Mercury Paint was born. The Mercury Paint Company remained a family-owned business throughout its existence. Max and Fannie’s sons, Myron and Louis, joined the firm after WWII, and Jacob Soberman’s son, Nate, in 1950. The third generation was represented by Paula Milgrom in 1975 and Charles Soberman in 1979. The company was sold to the famous national paint brand, Sherwin-Williams Paints, in 1996. BTW — Mark is the son of Louis Milgrom. I found excellent documentation of Mercury Paint in the Archive. First, two feature stories stand out: “Legacy of Color” (May 5, 1989, JN) and “Mercury Gets a New Coat” (Sept. 20, 1996). The latter article also announced that the company was sold to Sherwin-Williams. Mercury Paint is also cited on many other pages. For example, several Danny Raskin “Listening Post” columns mention family members. See the one for Charles Soberman’s 40th birthday (Dec. 16, 1988). Or see the very attractive advertisements, 1960s-1990s. Or see the many times Mercury Paint, or various Milgroms or Sobermans, were cited for their contributions to good causes. Mercury Paint is a fine story of Jewish Detroit history. It was a pleasure traveling with Mark and Mitch in Israel, and I’m glad I had that chat with Mitch. Want to learn more? Go to the DJN archives, available for free at thejewishnews.com. Mike Smith Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair OUR COMMUNITY F armington Hills res- ident Mark Milgrom has had a deep con- nection with Israel, especially with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit’s part- nership region, for decades. In March, Milgrom will be exer- cising that connection once again on Federation’s Motor City Mission. Milgrom first went on an Israel trip with his family when he was a teenager. He had a great experience but didn’t catch the “Zionist bug” at that time. That wasn’t until he went on Miracle Mission II in 1995. “That trip did it for me; that trip triggered the Zionist feeling,” he said. Milgrom returned home “jazzed up” and got involved in the Partnership2Gether program at Federation, going on one or two young leadership missions in the framework of the program along the way. “I made some very close friends in the region, ” Milgrom said. “To this day, we’re still close. I’ve stayed at their houses; they’ve been here to Detroit and stayed at my house. ” As a result of making friends in Israel, Milgrom became cognizant that language is everything when you’re trying to build a partnership between two peoples. This thinking led Milgrom to travel to Israel for two months to study Hebrew at an ulpan. “What a wonderful experience that was,” Milgrom said. “Not only did it teach me Hebrew, spoken and writing and reading, but the ulpan does a wonderful job of teaching you the geography of Israel, the history. You go on field trips to a bank, to a supermarket, to the post office, everything you would need in order to live in Israel.” That trip and the dozen or so other Israel trips Milgrom has been on led him to a better insight on who Israelis are and why Israel is so important. It also led him to know his way around the country better when visiting friends and family. “Knowing just a little bit of Hebrew, enough to read road signs, enough to read a menu, enough to very simplistically ask for directions somewhere, goes a long way, ” Milgrom said. “It allows you to break through what I call the glass ceiling, the difference between a tourist experience and peeking over the top of the ceiling and seeing what an Israeli experience is like, to be an Israeli. ” Milgrom had a trip planned to Israel for March 2020, which got canceled when the pandemic hit. He’s been itching to go back ever since, and joining the Motor City Mission came at the perfect time. Having not been on an organized trip to Israel in many years, Milgrom is looking forward to things he hasn’t seen before in a group context. “For myself, personally, just to open up my eyes to parts of Israel I never knew existed,” Milgrom said. “There’s always something new and always new people to meet.” Milgrom is staying in Israel after the mission for about a week or so to visit friends and cousins. “I’m getting the best of both worlds, ” Milgrom said. “The value of somebody organizing the mission and time on my own. ” It was on the bus during Miracle Mission II that Milgrom met and spent time with Norm Keane, then the CEO of Jewish Family Service of Metro Detroit. Keane invited Milgrom for a tour of JFS when they got home. Fast forward and Milgrom was elected to the JFS board of directors and became board president from 2010 to 2012. “When people ask me how I got involved with JFS, I always say it all started with a bus ride in Israel, ” Milgrom said. “It’s the Israel spark, the Zionist spark, that got me involved in the Jewish community and gave me a better understanding of Judaism and Zionism in Israel and around the world. ” Mark Milgrom is returning to Israel on the Motor City Mission in March. The ‘Zionist Bug’ DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER MOTOR CITY MISSION COUNTDOWN Mark Milgrom