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Enclosed please find a donation in honor of what would have been the 100th birthday of my father, Harold N. \u201cChick\u201d 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.<\/em><\/p>\n Although he had been accepted to both medical and dental schools, commitments due to his father\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/em><\/p>\n 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 \u2013 to one\u2019s vocation, to one\u2019s religion, and to one\u2019s community \u2013 and taught me to do the same.<\/em><\/p>\n When we asked Karu if we could print his letter, he said yes, and added a little more information about his father.<\/p>\n Happy birthday, Chick. You sound like a special man.<\/p>\n\n