Joel Tauber
Interviewed by Susie Citrin
May 25, 2005
Max M. Fisher Federation Building, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Joel Tauber
Video 01:07:00
Joel Tauber
Audio 01:07:00
Abstract
In this oral history, Joel Tauber talks about his various leadership roles within the Jewish Community. He talks about his early childhood in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood.
. He tells a story of his early leadership skills in starting a gang that picked on a kid in elementary school. He mentions that though he got good grades, he was always at odds with his teachers, and since his mother taught at the elementary school, he spent the most amount of time in her classroom.
He speaks of his high school days and as class president, he has organized reunions over the years and kept in contact with many classmates. Tauber mentions that he had an easier time in college with instructors and staying out of trouble. Because of his boredom as a child with his Jewish education, he explains that he has started a program for Tel Aviv University where children learn through video games.
Tauber talks about his involvement in merging the United Jewish Appeal, United Israel Appeal and the Council of Jewish Federations. Form here, he speaks about starting out with the Junior Division with Federation, and then becoming president of the Jewish Community Center, and treasurer of Jewish Family Services. He talks about his issues with the Jewish Community Center at the time and his fight to make the building usable.
Tauber then speaks about his trip to Mauthasen concentration camp and the impact it had on his life. He mentions his projects with Israel, like helping with the new constitution, being the chairman of Tel Aviv University’s American Council and a petition drive to make involvement with the Israel/Palestine issue a top priority in Foreign Policy.
Tauber explains his experience with bringing Ethiopians to Israel, and meeting with many political figures in Israel. He speaks about his relationship with Former U.S. President, Bill Clinton and what he has been able to accomplish with his connections.
At the end of the interview, Tauber talks about his children, his marriage, and the friends who he had worked with over the years.
History of Narrator
Joel D. Tauber was born in Detroit in 1935. He received his B.A., M.B.A. and J.D. from the University of Michigan. Tauber has been actively involved in Jewish philanthropy for over fifty years. He has served as president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, chair of United Jewish Appeal, on the board of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel, the executive committee for Tel Aviv University, and on the board of trustees at the Jewish Federation of North America, among other roles.
Tauber endowed the University of Michigan’s joint manufacturing program, the Tauber Institute for Global Operations. His activities at the University of Michigan included the President’s Advisory Group, the Trustee Growth Fund, Tauber Industry Advisory Board, and the Visiting Committee, Life Science Institute and Taubman Research Institute.
His accolades include Federation’s Fred M. Butzel Memorial Award (1990) National Master Entrepreneur of the Year (1990), Michigan Socially Responsible Entrepreneur of the Year (1994), the Alexis de Tocqueville Award for United Way Community Service (2004), the University of Michigan Hermelin Award for Fundraising Leadership (2005) and Distinguished Alumni (2009). In 2007, Joel received an Honorary Doctorate from Tel Aviv University.
Transcript
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Credit as: Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives. Joel Tauber Oral History Interview, May 25, 2005.