MAY 9 • 2024 | 21
motivated to do what’s best
for families, especially when
children are involved,
” she said.
Judge Savin and Adam Larky
live in West Bloomfield and
are members of Temple Israel.
They have two daughters in
college. Elizabeth is a graduate
student at George Washington
University and Abigail attends
the University of Michigan.
Savin will be introduced at
the JBAM event by her father-
in-law, family law attorney
Sheldon Larky.
“I call Lorie my ‘daughter-
in-love,
’” he said. “She’s a
remarkable woman. How could
we not be proud of her?”
Savin was sworn in as
judge during the height of the
COVID crisis, so she never had
a public investiture ceremony,
said her father-in-law. The
JBAM event will provide an
opportunity to honor her
accomplishments before a large
crowd.
“Deuteronomy says ‘Justice,
justice shall you pursue,
’ and
that’s been Lorie’s mantra,
” he
said. “She’s been a dedicated
jurist, one that listens carefully
to every case and never pre-
judges.
”
Judge Savin added, “It’s
overwhelmingly wonderful
to be recognized for doing
my job by such an excellent
organization as JBAM.
“I am so honored. I respect
and appreciate all of JBAM’s
efforts in the legal community.
”
PEACEMAKER AND
PROBLEM-SOLVER
U.S. District Court Judge Mark
Goldsmith works hard, but
not on Saturday. The Shomer
Shabbos judge is a member of
the Woodward Avenue Shul in
Royal Oak where he has been
known to serve as cantor.
JBAM’s Avern Cohn Lifetime
Achievement Award has been
well earned. Goldsmith has
been a judge for two decades
— beginning in 2004 on the
Oakland County Circuit Court
bench, and since 2010 as an
active status judge in Federal
court, an appointee of President
Barack Obama.
JN Editor Jackie Headapohl
interviewed Judge Goldsmith
for a cover story in 2018.
“I liked the idea of trying to
solve problems,
” he told the JN.
“I’ve always thought of lawyers
as peacemakers. Even though
it may not appear that way to
everyone, lawyers are ultimately
engaged in a peacemaking
activity.
”
Like Judge Savin, Judge
Goldsmith traces his
fascination with the law to
an early age. Growing up
in Detroit, he dreamed of
becoming a judge. As a young
teen, he would take the bus
Downtown to sit in the local
and Federal courthouses. He
marveled at the ornate Federal
court building. “It was like a
cathedral,
” he said.
Goldsmith’s love of Judaism
is no surprise. His father was
a founder of Adat Shalom
Synagogue and Hillel Day
School. Young Mark was a
student in the inaugural class
of Hillel. In 1967, right after the
Six-Day War, as a sophomore
at Cass Tech High School, he
spent a year in Israel.
“The experience really
deepened my attachment to
Israel,
” he said.
At the University of
Michigan, he was an Angell
Scholar with a perfect 4.0 GPA
and went on to Harvard Law
School. After that, he spent
over 16 years as an associate
and partner at the prestigious
law firm of Honigman Miller
Schwartz and Cohn in Detroit.
Goldsmith, 71, the father of
two and grandfather of two,
lives in Oakland County with
his wife, Judy, whom he met
in 1986 at a Jewish Federation
“break-the-fast” dance.
He has been actively
involved in the Detroit Jewish
community. At one time,
he served on the executive
committee of Federation’s
Young Adult Division (now
called NEXTGen Detroit) as
well as on the board of the
Anti-Defamation League. He’s
been involved in leadership
positions at previous shuls,
including Congregation Beth
Shalom where he served as
president.
A longtime friend, attorney
Jeffrey Appel of Huntington
Woods, said, “If you could
build a Federal judge in a
laboratory, it would look
exactly like Mark Goldsmith.
“Mark’s colleagues on the
Federal bench respect his
intellect, his judicial demeanor
and his objectivity. As a judge,
his decisions are always clear,
well-reasoned and written or
stated in an elegant manner.
“Every litigant and attorney
that appears before Mark
knows, whether they won or
lost, they had a full, fair and
impartial hearing,
” Appel said.
Goldsmith’s Jewish values
help shape the kind of judge
he is. “In my case, my Judaism
has imparted to me certain
basic values that in many
ways are consistent with the
fundamental values of our
Constitution,
” he said.
“For example, Judaism
focuses very much on
individualism — the dignity of
each human being important.
“From Ethics of Our Fathers,
we are taught that he who saves
one person has saved an entire
world. That is a magnificent
statement about individual
human dignity.
“
American law has that same
focus on the importance of
every individual’s dignity. That
really is what our Constitution
is all about.
”
Other awardees at the JBAM
dinner will include scholarship
winners Amanda Igra of
Michigan State University Law
School and Hannah Passer of
University of Detroit Mercy
School of Law. JBAM’s vice
president, attorney Jordan
Zuppke of Royal Oak, will
receive the Volunteer of the
Year Award.
Judge Lorie Savin
Judge Mark Goldsmith
JBAM AWARDS
DINNER DETAILS
To attend the JBAM dinner, 6 p.m. Thursday, May
23, at the Somerset Inn in Troy, go to jlive.app/
events/6150. The cost is $60 for JBAM members and
$75 for others. For more information, visit jewishbar.
org/events or email JBAM President Nargiz Nesimova
at Nargiz.nesimova@gmail.com.