Quote Originally Posted by Kathleen View Post
Sad to report that Arnold "Arnie" Panitch [aka Jjaba] died just a couple months ago.
https://obits.oregonlive.com/us/obit...ry?id=53620805
Damn. I am greatly saddened to learn this. I had kept in touch with jjaba, IRL Arnie, across the years. I took him on a tour of Detroit July 6, 2005 along with Rock and a friend of Rock's, whose name I do not recall. In Sept. of 2018, he returned the favor by taking my wife and I on a streetcar tour of Portland, when I passed through there following my Peace Corps reunion in Northern California.

I last heard from him this past October 29, when he emailed one his jokes but there was no mention of any health issues. Beside adding levity and Detroit history to this forum he was indispensable in providing information on Detroit Jewish history and culture when I was creating the Lost Synagogues of Detroit site.



Jjaba with the Rock [left] at the site of the Studebaker Plant on Piquette. on July 6, 2005. The abandoned plant had burned down earlier that year. Jjaba took a brick home as a memento.

Addendum: The Studebaker site is today, and has been for about ten years, the site of a large four-story affordable residence for veterans.