Crain's Detroit Business - 25th Anniversary Issue, May 3, 2010 - (Page E40)

Page E40 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS May 3, 2010 Gone But Not Forgotten A quarter century of contributions rain’s selected 25 people metro Detroit lost over the past quarter century to represent both “giants” as well as those whose contributions were made on smaller stages. Not mentioned on this page: Former Newsmakers of the Year Peter Stroh, Heinz Prechter and Gerald MacDonald. For their stories, see Page E32. C Lillian Adams, 75 Feb. 5, 2010 For more than three decades, Adams was one of the go-to people in Macomb County as leader of the Sterling Heights Regional Chamber of Commerce. Adams joined the chamber in 1976 and built it from 67 to 1,500 members in Sterling Heights, Shelby Township and Utica by the time she retired in 2008. Canham William Beckham, 59 April 27, 2000 In the late 1990s, Beckham was credited with saving New Detroit Inc. from drifting into irrelevance with an agenda too broad to achieve. Beckham left New Detroit in late 1999 to become president and CEO of The Skillman Foundation. He was with the foundation only a few months before dying of a heart attack. Schembechler and Bo Schembechler changed all of that. Canham, a UM track-andfield coach, hired Schembechler from Miami University (Ohio) soon after becoming athletic director in 1968. Schembechler was a Woody Hayes protégé who beat his mentor in his first OSU-UM game in 1969, as part of an 8-3 season that led Dewar In retirement, he raised more than $18 million to transform the Grand Circus Theatre into the Detroit Opera House. He lived to see the conversion complete before dying of colon cancer in 2000. the time considered the largest real estate deal in U.S. history. He was founding chairman of Detroit Renaissance Inc. and a founder of New Detroit Inc. His wealth was estimated at $775 million when he died. He had given away more than $100 million, including a major gift to create the Max M. Fisher Music Center that houses the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Marie Farrell-Donaldson, 48 June 29, 1996 In 1993, Detroit ombudsman Farrell-Donaldson made headlines by proposing that sections of the city be mothballed and that the few residents in those areas be moved to more dense neighborhoods the city could service. Mayor Coleman Young quickly shut down the idea, but it reFarrell-Donaldson mained in public memory and perhaps set the stage for the discussions that are taking place around that idea today. She died of lymphoma. Henry Ford II, 70 Sept. 29, 1987 Ford perhaps will be best remembered by history for saving Ford Motor Co. from those who surrounded his aging and mentally deteriorating grandfather, Henry Ford I. But he’s remembered here as likely the most powerful, important and influential business executive in Detroit for a genFord II eration. And his power and influence culminated in the $350 million construction of the Renaissance Center at a time when businesses were abandoning downtown Detroit. The RenCen, now headquarters to General Motors Co., opened in 1977. Ford died of pneumonia a few months after the RenCen’s 10th anniversary. the first black woman elected to the City Council when she won a runoff election to fill a vacancy in 1972. She served as the council’s first female president Mahaffey after receiving the most votes in 1977, 1981 and 1985. Mahaffey was a social worker who served on City Council for 31 years and as its president from 1990 to 1998. She left Council in 2005 being diagnosed with leukemia. David Hermelin, 63 Nov. 22, 2000 Robert Sosnick, 66 March 16, 2000 Many thought Hermelin and Sosnick were more than a little bit crazy when they teamed with Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson to build the Palace of Auburn Hills, which opened in 1988. Even though the Pistons had been playing in the nearby Silverdome, the Palace’s far north location Hermelin was considered a nonstarter by many. The skeptics were proven wrong. Sosnick, who died of lung cancer, was a leading area real estate developer, serving as presiSosnick dent and CEO of Redico, known for developing Top of Troy, Travelers Tower I and II and Oakland Town Center. Hermelin was considered a dealmaker who put investors together on projects and also was active in Democratic politics — which led to an appointment as ambassador to Norway by President Bill Clinton — philanthropy and Jewish causes. After he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, he donated money to create the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center at Henry Ford Hospital. Beverly Beltaire, 76 March 17, 2003 Anthony Franco, 69 July 29, 2002 There were parallels to the careers of these public relations professionals. They founded their PR firms, Anthony M. Franco Inc. and PR Associates Inc., within a few months of each other. They were both committed to the city of Detroit, and each served as chair of what is now the Detroit ReBeltaire gional Chamber. They sold their agencies in 1994 and retired, and the agencies were consolidated into one when what is now Franco Public Relations Group Franco bought PR Associates in 2003. After retirement, Franco remained in the area, donating $1.2 million to St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital in Pontiac for the development of the Anthony M. Franco Communications Center. He died of lung cancer. Beltaire moved to California. She died of complications from a stroke. to the Rose Bowl. Canham proved to be an innovative marketer. He was among the earliest to discover the power of direct mail and making the school logo a marketing symbol. He also created the Saturday atmosphere that made game-day itself an event. Canham retired in 1988. He died in a 2005 car accident caused by a ruptured aortic aneurysm. Schembechler retired in 1989 with a 234-65-8 record and died of a heart attack on the eve of the 2006 Ohio State game. Wilfred Broderick Doner, 75 Jan. 4, 1990 Dubbed the “patron saint of creative people” by one of the many people he trained, Brod Doner’s advertising agency, W. B. Doner & Co., was legendary in its heyday for the young talent it nurtured, including “Cathy” cartoonist Cathy Guisewite. Signature lines under Doner Doner’s leadership included “They plump when you cook ’em” for Ball Park franks, and “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?” Douglas Fraser, 91 Feb. 23, 2008 Fraser was United Auto Workers president from 1977 to 1983. He spearheaded UAW lobbying on Capitol Hill to secure $1.5 billion in federal loan guarantees for Chrysler Corp. in 1979. The loan was instrumental in saving the company from bankruptcy. After his reFraser tirement in 1983, Fraser co-chaired a study on transit in Southeast Michigan and became a professor of labor studies at Wayne State University, where he remained until a few weeks before his death following a long battle with emphysema. William Davidson, 86 March 13, 2009 Davidson is most widely known as owner of the Detroit Pistons, but his empire was built on Auburn Hills-based Guardian Industries Corp., the family-owned company he built into one of the world’s largest manufacturers of architectural and automotive glass. Davidson bought the PisDavidson tons in 1974 and moved the team from losing both money and games to winning them both. He died after several years of deteriorating health and after donating millions to a range of causes. His widow, Karen, has put the Pistons up for sale. Guardian remains majority-owned by Davidson family members. Max Fisher, 96 March 3, 2005 Fisher was the quintessential American success story. Born to Russian immigrants, Fisher built a life of entrepreneurism, wealth and diplomacy that made him a community builder, a philanthropist who gave away more than $100 million in his lifetime, and an adviser to presidents on the Middle East and Fisher Jewish causes. Fisher made his first fortune by building a chain of gas stations eventually sold to Marathon Oil. He made his second by using his profits to invest in real estate, including the 1977 purchase of the 77,000acre Irvine Ranch in California with Al Taubman and Henry Ford II for $337 million, which was at Erma Henderson, 92 Dec. 14, 2009 Millie Jeffrey, 93 March 24, 2004 Among many accomplishments in a long life, Jeffrey was a civil rights activist, the first woman to head a United Auto Workers department, helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus and was credited for the nomination of Geraldine Jeffrey Ferraro as the first major-party nominated woman for vice president of the See Next Page Maryann Mahaffey, 81 July 27, 2006 Henderson and Mahaffey were warriors against injustice, who along the way became two of the most powerful women in Detroit political history. Henderson, armed with a master’s degree in social work from Wayne State Henderson University, was a civil rights advocate who became Robert Dewar, 77 Sept. 7, 2000 Dewar was a Kmart Corp. lifer who led the company during its rapid-growth years and, as its president and CEO, changed the company name from S.S. Kresge to Kmart in 1977, after opening 271 Kmart stores the year before. He retired in 1980. Donald Canham, 87 May 3, 2005 Glenn “Bo” Schembechler, 77 Nov. 17, 2006 It may be hard to believe, but in the 1960s the University of Michigan football team routinely played to a half-full stadium. Don Canham 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's Detroit Business - 25th Anniversary Issue, May 3, 2010

Crain's Detroit Business 25th Anniversary
Looking Forward
25 Companies to Watch
25 Mainstays
25 People Then and Now
25 Scandals and Dubious Deeds.
25 Philanthropic Gifts
25 Newsmakers of the Year
25 Big Stories
25 Innovations
25 Gone But Not Forgotten
Health Care
Defense
Suppliers
The Internet and Communication
Energy
Finance
Signs of the Times

Crain's Detroit Business - 25th Anniversary Issue, May 3, 2010

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