Holocaust survivor, former Wayne State provost Guy Stern dies at 101
(CBS DETROIT) - Guy Stern, a World War II veteran and the last surviving member of the U.S. Army's "Ritchie Boys," has died at age 101.
According to Wayne State University, where Stern previously served as provost, he died on Dec. 7, the 82nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Born in 1922, he escaped Germany at age 15, being the only member of his Jewish family to do so with the help of an uncle. He joined the army in 1943, assigned to the Ritchie Boys, a secret intelligence branch of the U.S. Army.
He joined Wayne State in 1978 as provost and vice president for academic affairs. He the Academy of Scholars at the university that launched in 1979.
He resigned 12 years later and became a distinguished professor in the Department of Romance and Germanic Languages and Literature before retiring from WSU in 2003.
"He was so full of life, and he kept your attention," said Gina Horwitz, former WSU associate director of philanthropy and alumni relations, and friend of Stern and his wife, Susanna. "I had a group of friends come to The Zekelman Holocaust Center, and he gave them a private tour of the Ritchie Boys exhibit, and he was 97 or 98 years old. But you would never know it.
"He had such a twinkle in his eye. You knew his history and what he went through, but you never ever saw it on the outside. He was a walking legend. How many people can really say they know an American hero? I'm proud to say that my husband, Arthur, and I got to spent 12 years with an American hero."
His family requested that contributions be made to the Guy Stern Endowment Fund in Exile and Holocaust Studies at Wayne State University at 5700 Cass Ave., Suite 1200, Detroit MI 48202 (memo line on check: Guy Stern/CLAS #060235 or call 1-800-WSU-GIVE); Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield; Congregation T'Chiyah in Ferndale; or The Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills.
