Edie Slotkin
Interviewed by Susie Pappas
September 26, 2018
Max M. Fisher Federation Building, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Edie Slotkin
Video 00:34:26
Edie Slotkin
Audio 00:34:26
Abstract
In this oral history interview, Edie Slotkin talks about her roles in leadership in Women’s Philanthropy. She speaks about remembering her mother being very involved in the Jewish community where she grew up in Cincinnati.
Slotkin talks about choosing to go to college at University of Michigan, and then meeting and marrying her husband, and then moving to Detroit. She describes rooming with Nancy Smith Kirsch, and her mother, Jennie Jones, becoming her surrogate mother. She talks about this being the way she got involved with Federation. She talks about some of the mentors that worked with her during this time.
Slotkin talks about women’s missions to Israel that she was a part of. Next, she talks about her career path, starting with working in fund raising for Doug Ross, to ending up becoming the director for the Detroit Chapter of the Weizmann Institute for Science.
Slotkin talks about becoming president of Women’s Philanthropy. She talks about her challenges in the position as well as her proud moment in receiving the Greenberg Award. She briefly talks about her leadership style and the staff she worked with. Lastly, she speaks about the difference in the way men and women solicit, and on the relationship between Women’s Philanthropy and the General campaign.
History of Narrator
Edie Slotkin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a BA in English Literature in 1958. After marrying, she and her first husband, Stuart Mittenthal, moved to Detroit.
She has held the positions of President of Women’s Department Board of Directors, Chairperson of the Education Programming Committee, and the Executive Committee. She has served as co-chair for the Women’s Department 1999 Ruby Committee, and the East Central Regional Conference in 1978. She was a member of the Women’s Department Board Retreat Committee, Endowment Committee, Lion of Judah Affinity Committee, and the Food for Though Committee. She received the Sylvia Simon Greenberg Award for Young Leadership in 1976.
Edie Slotkin has three children with her late husband and is married to Donald Slotkin.
Transcript
Important Subjects
Important Names
Credit as: Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives. Edie Slotkin Oral History Interview, September 26, 2018.