Popular Detroit Jewish News restaurant columnist Danny Raskin, who wrote a regular column for the Detroit Jewish News for 80 years, has died at 102.
Raskin led a remarkable career as a columnist, writing a column in every edition of the newspaper from its birth in 1942 until a fall at his West Bloomfield, Michigan home in early July led to his hospitalization and prevented him from writing, reported the Jewish News.
His son, Scott Raskin told the newspaper that his father had been doing well at a rehab facility until a “sudden turn” over the weekend. Until then, "aside from not having a computer, the thing he was most upset about was that he couldn't get (Detroit) Tigers baseball on television."
Raskin, who was easily recognizable due to his large glasses, white mustache and white toupee, was known to three generations of readers for his column titled “Best of Everything.” The articles featured a restaurant profile, some comments about other interesting places, jokes, and salutations to readers on their birthdays or anniversaries.
Raskin’s opinion became so popular that a positive mention or enthusiastic review in his column could singlehandedly keep a restaurant in business. While the converse could have been true, Raskin told the Detroit News in a 2019 article that if he didn't enjoy a restaurant after a second visit, he just didn’t write a review.
"A guy might have his last dollar in the place," Raskin told the News. "A customer will make a judgment on one visit. I'll go back and tell a restaurant what's wrong."
“Best of Everything” began in 1964 as an offshoot of his first column, “Jewish Youth’s Listening Post” which had initially focused on issues having to do with Jewish soldiers fighting in World War II. In recent times, he also had a devoted group of readers on Facebook.