William Clay Ford
William Clay Ford never enjoyed taking a U-turn more than the one that brought the Lions back to Detroit. The franchise, which Ford has owned since 1964, returned home after a 27-year hiatus at the Pontiac Silverdome when the Lions kicked off the 2002 season at Ford Field. 05/04/03
Imad Hamad
Imad Hamad's work day doesn't end when he leaves the Dearborn office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). Hamad can't even go to the grocery store or mall without people recognizing him and asking his advice on different social service and discrimination issues. And after five years with the ADC, Hamad is beginning to get used to it. 05/04/03
Charles F. Whitten, M.D.
In 1969, Whitten founded the Wayne State University School of Medicine's Post Baccalaureate program to even the playing field for African-American medical students. 05/04/03
Fred and Lena Meijer
The charmed partnership of Fred and Lena Meijer gave birth to many miracles: three sons, a thriving chain of superstores and a magnificent garden where art and nature flourish. 05/04/03
Amyre Makupson
The former Channel 50 news anchor serves on the board of directors for the Alzheimer's Association, Skillman Foundation, Sickle Cell Association, Providence Hospital Foundation and the March of Dimes. 05/04/03
Jennifer Granholm
Michigan had not elected a woman governor in its first 165 years as a state. Then, in 2002, along came Jennifer Granholm and her pledge to forge "one Michigan." 05/04/03
Gary Anderson
Gary Anderson knew exactly what he wanted to do from the night the curtain first rose on a production by his Plowshares Theatre Company back in 1990. He would help to tell the stories of the African-American community. 05/04/03
Scotty Bowman
He arrived here as a hockey legend, one of the most-acclaimed coaches in sports history. He left a decade later as a transcendent leader, one of the founding figures of Hockeytown, with a record burnished beyond reasonable belief. 05/04/03
Joan Podeszwa
For 12 years Joan Podeszwa has given out tens of thousands of gently used or new socks, shirts, hats, booties and hand-stitched quilts to those in need at the Children's Hospital of Michigan. 05/04/03
Waltraud 'Wally' Prechter
For 24 years, Wally Prechter devoted herself to her husband Heinz. Now, in his memory, she has emerged as a champion for a cure for the illness that killed him. 05/04/03
Jeffrey Montgomery
It's not the awards or the TV spotlight that bring Jeffrey Montgomery to the nondescript brick building on Detroit's west side that houses the Triangle Foundation, Michigan's premier gay rights organization. It's the work of this organization he helped found, work that is at once personal and immediate, even while it tackles big issues on a national scale. 05/04/03
Dieter Zetsche
The CEO of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group in Auburn Hills has demonstrated command of the car industry and proved that he cares deeply about people. He ate lunch with workers, listened to them and even let them laugh at his self-deprecating jokes. 05/04/03
Past Michiganians of the Year
05/04/03
 |
 |
25th Anniversary Edition
They might be giants.
Their contributions to state and community tower above even the impressive, and set them in a class by themselves. They are the 2002 Michiganians of the Year, citizens both ordinary and exalted who have wrought the remarkable.
They are advocates for the dispossessed, a volunteer who clothes the ill and injured, the impresario behind one of Detroit’s best theaters, and a broadcaster whose good works are the stuff of legend.
Inside, you’ll meet the first Michigan woman to sit in the governor’s seat, the tycoon who gave downtown a tremendous lift by bringing back the Detroit Lions, a widow who’s determined to cure the scourge of manic depression and a doctor who’s devoted himself to boosting the numbers of minority physicians.
As always, since 1978, this year’s Michiganians were picked from hundreds of submissions, and represent a world of ways that an individual can make a difference.
In times as war-torn as ours, their examples comfort and inspire.
So turn the page — and see if you don’t think giant’s blood runs in their veins.
Previous honorees
 2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
© Copyright 2006 The Detroit News.
|
