Bruno and Bill: ת.נ.צ.ב.ה

This weekend we lost two great men: Bill Davidson and Ron Silver.

Ron, not to be confused with Andy Garcia or other look-alikes, was one of the great minor character arcs of The West Wing, playing the political consultant Bruno Gianelli, first as an advisor to Bartlett's reelection campaign and then as Winick's campaign manager. I also greatly admired his earlier work as a porn mogul in Skin and a senator in Timecop. The AP's obituary.

Bill Davidson was a great philanthropist and pretty-darned-good owner of the Detroit Pistons. In addition to providing KER with some sick seats to a basketball game, Davidson endowed the Davidson School of Education at JTS and partnered in his last years with the Abigail and Leslie Wexner to share the onus of funding for Wexner Graduate Fellows who were pursuing careers in Jewish Education and Jewish Professional/Communal Service (like me). Though I never got the sense that he was playing the same role on the world Jewish stage as some of his megaphilanthropist peers, I have heard recently that Chancellor Eisen was trying to leverage Davidson back into the game to help reshape JTS and, as it should go without saying, there are far too few individuals who are committed to Jewish education with his kind of ability and passion to write any of them off. A local Detroit obituary.

May their memories be for a blessing.