Donors to University of Detroit Mercy give for many reasons.
Some give because they themselves benefited from gifts to scholarships when they were students here. Others give in honor of a special professor or to a particular program. Still others give to make an investment in the future of the University and its students.
Michael H. Karu of New Jersey recently sent a contribution to the University in honor of a special person. His gift came with this heartfelt letter.
Enclosed please find a donation in honor of what would have been the 100th birthday of my father, Harold N. “Chick” Karu. He attended the University of Detroit from 1934 to 1938. He received an athletic scholarship to play both football and basketball, but an injury during his freshman year limited his playing days. However, he stayed on with the football team as a manager. I still have his letter sweater and blanket.
Although he had been accepted to both medical and dental schools, commitments due to his father’s death forced him to forego his dreams and help support his family. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1941 and rose to the rank of Sergeant Major in the Signal Corps serving as the highest ranking sergeant in Supreme Headquarters. He was fluent in German and was assigned to the radio room when Germany surrendered, becoming one of the first people in the world to know that the war had ended. Upon returning home, he earned a master’s degree from Rutgers University in Psychology and Guidance while teaching biology and chemistry at Harrison High School. Soon thereafter, he went back into the family business of hardware and industrials. He continued in the field until his untimely death in 1983.
My father was a special kind of individual. He was highly educated, an athlete, a patriot, a poet and a volunteer. He was a true renaissance man. He believed in giving back three ways – to one’s vocation, to one’s religion, and to one’s community – and taught me to do the same.
When we asked Karu if we could print his letter, he said yes, and added a little more information about his father.
- In addition to playing football, he also played soccer and boxed. His two older brothers were professional boxers, but not for long as the eldest needed to support the family and the other enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.
- Harold Karu became the New Jersey State Commander of the Jewish War Veterans.
- Every year, for Harold’s wife’s birthday he would type “using one finger from each hand, a poem to her. He could never be confused with Walt Whitman, but everything rhymed and was properly metered.”
Happy birthday, Chick. You sound like a special man.
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