BIRMINGHAM
JULY 13, 2023 Vol. 20, No. 15
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VOTERS TO DECIDE ON CITY CLERK CANDIDATES PAGE 8A
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CRIME WATCH 15A CALENDAR 18A
‘Mr. Southfield’ CITY MOURNS LONGTIME FORMER MAYOR DONALD F. FRACASSI BY KATHRYN PENTIUK kpentiuk@candgnews.com
SOUTHFIELD — Beloved former Southfield Mayor and Councilman Donald F. Fracassi passed away peacefully in his home on Sunday, June 25, on his 63rd wedding anniversary with wife, Karen. Fracassi was 88, and he dedicated over 50 of those years to the city of Southfield. Southfield City Council President Michael “Ari” Mandelbaum reflected on Fracassi’s lively character. “His personality was passionate,” Mandelbaum said. “No matter what he was talking about, even if it wasn’t something about Southfield.” Mandelbaum added that Fracassi kept a library of boxes in his garage containing agendas and minutes from City Council meetings dating back to the 1970s that he would refer to when similar issues arose so that he could figure out how the situation was handled in the past. To Mandelbaum and many in the city, Fracassi was a mentor. In a press release addressing Fracassi’s passing, Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, stated that “Don was ‘Mr. Southfield,’ leading the city as Mayor during a dramatic period of growth — ‘from farmlands to skyscrapers,’ as he would say. I was the youngest member on a council of elders when I was elected to City Council in 2011, just like Don was more than
Above, Donald and Karen Fracassi pose outside the newly named municipal center on Sept.11, 2020. Yolanda Haynes shared that, after a 50-year-long political career, even at the end of his life, Donald Fracassi considered running for mayor again. Photos provided by the city of Southfield
See FRACASSI on page 13A
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