Leon "Lee" Warshay, a resident of Royal Oak, Michigan, died on September 18th, 2022 at the age of 94. Funeral services arranged by The Dorfman Chapel.

Location of Service:

The Dorfman Chapel- main chapel (map to our Chapel)

Date of Service:

Sunday October 23rd, 2022

Time of Service:

12:00 Noon  

Interment at:

Private Interment, though a public memorial service will be held

Officiant:

Rabbi Tamara Kolton  

Shiva Information:

The family will be gathering following the service, beginning at 2:30PM until 6:30PM at the residence of Jonathan Warshay and Ronelle Grier, 7366 Birchwood Trail West Bloomfield MI 48322 Phone: (248) 506-5796.  
See our shiva mapping options

Charitable contributions:

The Dorothy & Peter Brown Jewish Community Adult Day Care Program
6720 W. Maple Rd.
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
Phone: (248) 661-6390

or to League of Women Voters of Detroit
P.O. Box 2503
Detroit, MI 48202

or to Planned Parenthood of Michigan
P.O. Box 3673
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
Phone: 855-896-4966  

Family Members:

Leon “Lee” Warshay was a beloved college professor, a published author, a self-proclaimed feminist and, above all, a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

Lee was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of two Hebrew school teachers. When Lee was four years old, his father, a dedicated Zionist, moved the family to Israel. When his father died unexpectedly a few years after they arrived, his mother brought Lee and his younger brother, Marvin, back to the United States to live with her family in Brooklyn. As a result, Lee enjoyed referring to himself as “twice an immigrant.” In New York he became an avid Yankees fan and developed a lifelong love of baseball.

While working on his PhD in Sociology at the University of Indiana, he met Diana, his wife of 70 years. He called her “the most impressive person I have known” and insisted Diana, who also had a PhD in Sociology, was always “the better sociologist.”

After teaching at the University of Missouri and the Ohio State University, Lee accepted a position at Wayne State University and the Warshays moved to Detroit in the late 1960s. He taught well into his 80s and became active in Zionist causes, serving as president of the Detroit Zionist Federation for several years. He also had a love of politics. He attended baseball games at Tiger Stadium whenever the Yankees were in town and contributed a chapter to the book "Social Approaches to Sport" by Robert Pankin.

Leon “Lee” Warshay is survived by his wife of 70 years, Diana; sons, Jonathan (Ronelle Grier) Warshay and Nathaniel (Shaina) Warshay; grandchildren, Alyssa (Erin) Hawks-Warshay, Aaron (Colette) Warshay, Arielle (Norbert) Wroblewski, Jonah Warshay, Madeleine (Abraham) Truitt, David Warshay, Anna Warshay, Gavriel Warshay, Avigail Warshay, Assaf Warshay and Maayan Warshay; great-grandchildren, Julian Hawks-Warshay, Amari Hawks-Warshay, Jasmine Hawks-Warshay and Dalia Truitt. He was the brother of the late Marvin (Ieda) Warshay.  

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