ANN ARBOR— University of Michigan President Lee C.
Bollinger announced that the U-M Center for Community
Service and Learning has received a $5 million gift for
endowment in honor of alumnus Edward Ginsberg, a Cleveland
corporate and real-estate lawyer and internationally noted
humanitarian, who died in 1997. The endowment gift was
made by his son, William, and his wife, Inger, and other
members of the Ginsberg family to recognize Edward
Ginsberg’s commitment to community service and humanitarian
causes.

The U-M Board of Regents, at its Nov. 18-19 meeting,
approved the recommendations for honorary degrees.
Bollinger said, “The U-M has a long history of
learning from community service, from its 19th century
roots in the educational efforts of John Dewey, a professor
at Michigan, who taught that students learn by doing in
their community, to John Kennedy’s announcement at the U-M
of the founding of the Peace Corps, to the involvement of
thousands of students today. This extraordinary gift will
ensure that the Center can carry on this proud tradition
and will honor one of the University’s own, whose example
of leadership will inspire generations of Michigan
students.”

The U-M Regents, at their Nov. 18-19 meeting, approved
the renaming of the Center as the Edward Ginsberg Center
for Community Service and Learning. Regent Olivia Maynard
serves as co-chair of the Center’s National Board. “I know
from my own personal experience as a Michigan student that
when community participation is an integral part of a
university education, the effects can last a lifetime,”
Maynard commented.

U-M Provost Nancy Cantor pointed out that the work of
the Center is a strong component of the overall life of the
University. “Studies show that participation in the
community develops knowledge, practical skills, and social
responsibility which can last a lifetime. The Edward
Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning is a
vehicle for integrating community involvement into the
curriculum. This gift will make it possible for even more
students to have that educational experience.”

Barry Checkoway, director of the Center and professor
of social work and urban planning, said, “This generous
gift will offer unprecedented opportunities to renew our
efforts to prepare students for active participation in a
democratic society. It will enable us to engage more
students in communities, involve the faculty, and build
collaborative partnerships which improve the quality of
life and enhance the educational process.”

Edward Ginsberg’s life exemplified the values of
community involvement and active citizenship that the
Center seeks to foster. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and
moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio. He received the
bachelor of arts degree from the U-M in 1938 and the Juris
Doctor from Harvard University in 1941. After graduation,
he returned to Cleveland where he practiced law for more
than 50 years.

Throughout his life, he devoted himself to Israeli and
Jewish activities in the United States and around the
world. After World War II and service in the U.S. Army Air
Force, he played an important role raising funds for the
establishment and support of Israel, working directly with
world figures, including Golda Meir and Itzak Rabin. In
the 1960s and 70s, Ginsberg was a general chairman and then
president of the national United Jewish Appeal, and chairman of the American Joint Distribution Committee. He
was vice president of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and a
founder of the Cleveland Jewish News. He served as a life
trustee of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland and
was president of the Fairmount Temple.

He sponsored many educational programs at Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, which made him an honorary fellow.
He received an honorary degree from Hebrew Union College
and the Jewish Community Federation awarded him the
Eisenman Award for humanitarianism. He was involved in
many business activities, including directorships of El Al
Israel Airlines and the First Israel Bank and Trust
Company. A lifelong sports enthusiast, he was a partner in
the New York Yankees and a past director in the Chicago
Bulls.

On behalf of the family, William Ginsberg said: “My
father believed that all of us have an obligation to return
something to society, and his own deeds and accomplishments
demonstrated his lifelong personal commitment to that
belief. Our family hopes that the Center will inspire
generations of young people to make service and compassion
toward others a part of their own lives.”

Edward Ginsberg’s son, Robert, and his wife, Jan, and
their two daughters graduated from the U-M: Robert
received an A.B. in 1968 from the College of Literature,
Science, and the Arts (LSA), and a J.D. in 1971; Jan Duboe
Ginsberg received an A.B. from LSA in 1969; daughters Amy
and Tracy received A.B. degrees in 1997 and 1993
respectively from LSA.

The Center brings together several of the nation’s
leading curricular and co-curricular programs and
undertakes new initiatives in communities in Michigan and
nationwide. Project Community, which will celebrate its
40th anniversary this year, is a service-learning course
that places more than 500 students in projects serving
Southeastern Michigan communities.

Project SERVE provides thousands of students with
opportunities to address social issues through community
service and social action. Alternative Spring Break
engages nearly 500 students in projects such as serving in
homeless shelters in Detroit, rehabilitating housing in
Kentucky, resettling refugees in Miami, and tutoring
children on the Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. The
program is the largest of its kind nationwide.

The Center also develops collaborative community
partnerships, such as the Michigan Neighborhood AmeriCorps
Program, a unique collaboration of several graduate
professional schools—Architecture and Urban Planning,
Business, Information, Law, Public Policy, Public Health,
and Social Work—and 20 community-based organizations in
Detroit neighborhoods.

The Michigan America Reads Tutoring Corps enables
students to help children learn how to read. In
collaboration with the School of Education and Office of
Financial Aid, work-study students serve more than 200
children in 10 schools in communities in Michigan: Ann
Arbor, Detroit, Milan, and Willow Run.

A new initiative, the Michigan Community Service
Corps, enables student teams to work with young people and
revitalize local neighborhoods through summer projects in
Benton Harbor, Flint, Saginaw, and Marquette, Michigan, and
expanding to eight other communities in 2000.

The Center also enables faculty members to integrate
civic content into research and teaching, including faculty
seminars on community-based research and the publication of
the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, the
leading scholarly journal in the field.

The Center’s National Board includes representatives
from business, academe, foundations, and community
agencies. It is chaired by Eli Segal, president and chief
executive officer of the Welfare to Work Partnership and
founding CEO of the Corporation for National Service. Co-
chairs are Olivia Maynard, U-M Regent, and Ronald Weiser,
an Ann Arbor business leader. The State of Michigan is
represented by Michigan’s First Lady Michelle Engler.
According to Eli Segal, “this generous gift will build
on a proud tradition and enable the Center to extend its
national leadership in strengthening service and learning
on campus and in the community.”