Principled retailer will be missed

by Larry Meyer
MRA Chairman and CEO

Art Schurgin came to his retail career with an exhilarating background. Credited with first bringing the Beatles to Detroit’s Olympia Stadium in 1964, Art was a concert promoter for more than 20 years, spanning 1940s swing, ’50s jazz and ’60s rock and roll.

He counted among his friends such music industry legends as Nat King Cole and Elvis Presley (with whom he was on a first-name basis). In the Detroit area, he promoted local appearances by Sammy Davis, Jr., Bob Hope and Buddy Rich, to name just a few.

I feel very honored to have counted Art as one of my friends. When I learned that he passed away just before Labor Day, at age 83, I joined many people in mourning the loss of a good friend and colleague.

What so impressed me about Art was not his local renown as a concert promoter or his years of hob-nobbing with legends of the music industry, but his character and his principled stands on issues that were important to him.

His son William, a Chicago attorney, tells a story about his refusal to book acts in segregated venues. In the 1950s, Ella Fitzgerald was scheduled to perform at a southern concert venue. When Art found out that the house was segregated, he decided Fitzgerald would not perform. Now, that’s principle.

Back in 1982, when Art’s Birmingham gift store, Horn of Plenty, joined MRA, I couldn’t have known that Art would become such a model of MRA membership and of retail business ownership. Over the years, I came to discover the depth of Art’s character, as he devoted time, money and principled energy to the retail community, just as he had the wider community.

Art believed firmly in our mission of helping retailers survive, grow and prosper in the marketplace. A former president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, he understood the power of working together for the common purpose of promoting retail prosperity.

Along with D. Larry Sherman, Art was a prime mover on the issue of the Principal Shopping District (PSD) initiative in the late 1980s. This state initiative, which was finally enacted in the early 1990s, helps preserve the quality and integrity of downtowns. Without the PSD initiative, we wouldn’t have the level of exceptional downtowns that we have in Michigan.

Art worked on this issue at every level. He was a key promoter and advocate over the years, rallying fellow retailers at the grass-roots level. But he was also a dynamic lobbyist, taking the time to come up to Lansing for critical meetings with the legislature.

Because he believed in the power of working together, Art gave substantially on an annual basis to the MRA PAC. He felt we all should make a personal monetary investment in supporting legislators who support retail.

I won’t be alone in missing Art, as I wasn’t alone in calling him my friend. When I need an example of the power of solid principles and tireless commitment, I can draw upon my memories of Art’s contributions to retail and to his community.