A. Robert Zeff (born Avram Abbot Zeff), 87, died on June 6, 2021,while watchinga basketball game at home in Westport, Connecticut. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Feb 2, 1934, the 15th generation of his family born in Israel, Bob grew up in Detroit where he played high school baseballwellenough to pitch at the University of Michiganand for the Tigers Farm Teamuntil bad knees forced him to make other career plans. He remained an avid baseball fan for a lifetime of rarely missed Detroit Tigers games.
Zeff graduated from the University of Detroit School of Law at 22 and was among the youngest applicants to ever pass the Michigan bar exam in 1957. He began trial practice immediately in his ailing father's law firm and the name Zeff & Zeff PC still exists65 years later. Although Zeff was initially a "pink-faced young lawyer trying to retain his father's clients," by the early '60s he had successfully built the firm's practice in handling catastrophic personal injury cases. When million dollar verdicts first began, Zeff became a national leader in seven-figure recoveries.He was proudest of a series of press injury cases that changed the industrial codes in Detroit's plants.
Newsweek covered him among the "Top 20 Personal Injury Trial Attorneys" and his closing arguments tojuries were events that drew spectators from all parts of the courthouse. The MichiganInstitute of Continuing Legal Education featured cassettes of his "Million Dollar Arguments" and he authored the chapter on closing arguments in ICLE's "Michigan Civil ProcedureDuring Trial."
Zeff's reputation was captured by a Detroit News columnist who observed "Defense attorneys cringe when Zeff enters the courtroom."In 1975 Bob was inducted into theInner Circle, a group limited to 100 of the best trial lawyers in the United States.
Zeff was once featured in a Detroit News spread covering ahandful of theMost Eligible Bachelorsin the city, then later married Susan Jane Kroll from South Carolina, who hadn't seen the article. They celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary on June2, 2021. Zeff was privately a frequent high praiserof Susan in matters of the heart, golf, and business, often followedby the humorous disclaimer"don'ttell her I said that."
Zeff's interests and experiences warranted a book he often promised to write.He was widely world traveled with extraordinarilycolorful experiences. Zeff owned a jai alai fronton inConnecticutwith related pursuits in Spain, where he became a fan of Salvador Dali and began assembling a museum-quality Dali collection - the tip of an iceberg of fine art he and Susan collected. Zeff traveled to South America and had Indiana Jones-type jungle adventures complete with artifacts and arrows flying. He was once surprised to find himself seated at a table with the president of Indonesiaat a state dinner therediscussing international business. Zeff was an unrepentant golfer for many years and reached his golf pinnacle on a scramble team that won a nearly $40,000 pot at acharity tournament for the Boca Raton Regional Hospital. His pace of play in golf, as in his private life, was deliberate. He was a reliable late arrival for virtually all scheduled events, a practice Susan was unable to dent over three decades of marriage.Zeff had imposing, "family member" dogs all his adult years that were fiercely devoted to himandSusan but gentle enough to take adailyBrazil nut from his lips at breakfast.
Zeff was survived by hisloving and devotedwife Susan of Boca Raton, Florida,and his niece Sandra (Mark) Gold, the daughter of his beloved older sisterNita"Billie" (Moe) Barak who predeceasedhim, and Sandra's children. He was also predeceased by his father Louis Zeff and his mother, Bertha Friedman Zeff.
Zeff was a member of CongregationShaarey Zedek Synagogue in Southfield, Michigan,and Palm Beach Orthodox Synagogue in Florida. He was an avid supporter of Israeli causes and a generous benefactor of Hebrew University, where theZeffs established the Susan and A. Robert Zeff Graduate Scholarship EndowmentFund forlaw school students in perpetuity.
Donations in Zeff's memory should be directed to the Division of Hematologic Neoplasia, Dana Farber Institute, 450 Brookline Ave, Boston,MA 02215 Arrangements are being handled by Ira Kaufman Chapel and interment will be in a private ceremony at Clover Hill Park Cemetery.
