16 | MAY 9 • 2024 

GERALD S. COOK
Gerald “Jerry” Cook began 
his Jewish community 
volunteerism after graduating 
from Harvard Law School. 
He was an active volunteer 
and board member of Hillel 
Day School, Adat Shalom, 
Jewish Community Relations 
Council, Jewish Federation 
of Detroit and the Michigan 
Committee for Conservative 
Judaism in Israel, as well as 
president of the American 
Jewish Congress Michigan 
Region and Jewish Historical 
Society of Michigan. 
 He balanced these roles 
with devotion to family, 
judicial clerkship with 
U.S. District Court Judge 
Theodore Levin and a 42-year 
career at the Honigman law 
firm. 
Cook’s most substantial 
volunteer role has been as 

the Trustee of the Ben N. 
Teitel Charitable Trust. His 
uncle, Ben Teitel, left the 
bulk of his estate to help 
Jews in Michigan and Israel, 
and Cook is privileged to 
carry out the work his uncle 
entrusted to him. The first 
major gift from the Teitel 
Trust helped create the 
Harriett and Ben Teitel Jewish 
Senior Life Apartments in 
1990. The Teitel Trust gift 
provided enhancements such 
as air conditioning, a canopy 
and carpeted halls as well as 
created the endowment fund 
that helped secure United 
States government aid for 
JCare. 
As Trustee, Cook has given 
millions of dollars in Harriett 
and Ben Teitel’s names to 
fund teen travel to Israel, 
JVS (now Gesher Human 
Services), Jewish Family 
Service, the JOIN program 
for college internships, and 
many other Michigan Jewish 
programs and buildings. 
The Trust also brought 
two planeloads of Soviet 
immigrants to Israel and 
funded Israeli buildings and 
programs for youth and older 
adults. 

PAUL GOLDSMITH
As an architect at Harley 
Ellis Devereaux and adjunct 
faculty member at Lawrence 
Technological University’s 
School of Architecture and 
Design, where he taught 
LEED-focused courses, Paul 
Goldsmith is known for his 
expertise in green building 
and sustainable architecture. 
 Though retired, the 
founding board member of 
the Detroit regional chapter 
of the U.S. Green Building 
Council hasn’t stopped 
making a difference in the 
community, using his vast 
knowledge and passion for 
green building. A board 
member at Adat Shalom 
Synagogue and chairperson 
of its building committee, 
Goldsmith has helped convert 
all lighting to LED, oversaw 

implementing an air filtration 
system and roof repair, and 
is part of its Green Team, 
leading the way for improved 
efficiencies.
For the last 10 years, he has 
volunteered in the Detroit 
Public Schools Community 
District (DPSCD). He’s 
worked with the Detroit 
nonprofit EcoWorks as an 
AmeriCorps coordinator in 
the Go Green Challenge 
program. Goldsmith has 
also been involved with 
three of DPSCD’s career 
training schools, including 
the A. Phillip Randolph 
Career and Technical 
Center, where he has assisted 
with the class curriculum and 
is now the teacher of record, 
instructing students in the art 
of residential carpentry. 
The Farmington Hills 
resident also shares his love 
of Hebrew with young and 
old. Goldsmith volunteers 
every week to teach the 
language to beginning 
Hebrew students, attends 
Shabbat services and 
personally calls members 
when assigning parts for the 
High Holidays services. 
 

NANCY KALEF
A light in the lives of all 
who know her, Nancy Kalef 
is a recent cancer survivor 
who believes in meeting 
life’s challenges head on and 
seizing (as well as creating) 
opportunities to make 

OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 15

DETAILS
Jewish Senior Life’s 31st Annual 
Eight Over Eighty Celebration 
takes place Sunday, May 19, 
beginning at 10:45 a.m., at 
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, 
27375 Bell Road in Southfield. 
Complimentary valet parking. 
Dietary laws observed. Visit 
jslmi.org/events/8over80. For 
sponsorships, journal ads and 
event information, contact 
Nicole: (248) 592-5098 or 
nlupi@jslmi.org.

FJA student Hayden Dean 
and Eight Over Eighty 
Honoree Barry Kaufman 
meet at a recent JSL Getting 
To Know You luncheon.

continued on page 18

BRETT MOUNTAIN

