Samuel Frankel
Interviewed by Ruth Broder
April 1, 2004
Samuel Frankel’s Office, Troy, Michigan
Samuel Frankel
Video 00:52:56
Samuel Frankel
Audio 00:52:56
Abstract
In this interview, Samuel Frankel discusses his early childhood and education and how he entered the grocery business and later, real estate.
Frankel also talks about his many trips to Israel, starting in the 1950s on early Federation Missions. He speaks about his involvement with the Jewish Community Centers, the Frankel Jewish Academy, and the first Tali School in Israel, called the Jean and Samuel Frankel School, and the Max M. Fisher Orchestra Hall.
The interview concludes with Frankel speaking about his family and the issues facing Detroit’s Jewry.
History of Narrator
Samuel Frankel was born in New York City and moved with this family to Detroit when he was 18 months old. He graduated from Detroit College of Law but after practicing only six weeks, joined his brother-in-law, Ben Mossman, in the wholesale and retail grocery business. He gradually transitioned into real estate, building the first Kmart store, the Somerset Mall (later expanded into the Somerset Collection) and other businesses.
Frankel was active in community affairs, serving as past president of the Jewish Community Center, and chairmen of its building committee, and as a board member of the Jewish Welfare Federation and Sinai Hospital of Detroit.
Along with his wife, Jean, Frankel championed boundless educational, charitable and religious organizations throughout southeast Michigan. The beneficiaries of his charitable efforts include the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Jean and Samuel Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit in West Bloomfield, the University of Michigan, Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, Congregation Shir Tikvah in Troy, the Detroit-based Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and many others. His interests extended to the State of Israel, where he was instrumental in establishing the TALI school concept, a series of secular schools that also include religious training.
Frankel died on April 7, 2008 at the age of 94.
Transcript
Important Subjects
Important Names
Credit as: Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives. Samuel Frankel Oral History Interview, April 1, 2004.