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A Jewish bridge builder’s burial, 15 years late: The strange afterlife of Lawrence Rubin

JL;DR SUMMARY Lawrence Rubin, a significant Jewish civic engineer instrumental in the construction of Michigan's Mackinac Bridge, was finally laid to rest 15 years after his death. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistoryJewish CommunityMichiganJewish BurialBridge BuildingLawrence RubinMackinac BridgeTemple B'nai IsraelCivic EngineeringUnclaimed Remains

Places mentioned

Petoskey, Michigan, United States
"PETOSKEY, Michigan The cemetery of this northern resort community, with a view of the glimmering waters of Little Traverse Bay, has a small Jewish section."
St. Ignace, Michigan, United States
"Rubin moved to St. Ignace, into a house on the bay overlooking what would be the site of the bridge."
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
"He also served as secretary-treasurer for the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, which links the two towns of the same name in Michigan and Ontario, Canada."
Alpena, Michigan, United States
"Ldor Vdor, helps provide services to six small congregations spread across the region in Petoskey, Traverse City, Alpena, Hancock, Marquette, and Sault Ste. Marie."
Traverse City, Michigan, United States
"Ldor Vdor, helps provide services to six small congregations spread across the region in Petoskey, Traverse City, Alpena, Hancock, Marquette, and Sault Ste. Marie."
Hancock, Michigan, United States
"Ldor Vdor, helps provide services to six small congregations spread across the region in Petoskey, Traverse City, Alpena, Hancock, Marquette, and Sault Ste. Marie."
Marquette, Michigan, United States
"Ldor Vdor, helps provide services to six small congregations spread across the region in Petoskey, Traverse City, Alpena, Hancock, Marquette, and Sault Ste. Marie."
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, United States
"Ldor Vdor, helps provide services to six small congregations spread across the region in Petoskey, Traverse City, Alpena, Hancock, Marquette, and Sault Ste. Marie."
Iron Mountain, Michigan, United States
"Some of the areas smaller congregations, including one in Iron Mountain on the western edge of the state, have shuttered in recent years."
Mackinac Island, Michigan, United States
"The local Jewish population dates back to the 1700s, when the first Jew in the state of Michigan settled on Mackinac Island, a stones throw from where the bridge would be built centuries later."
Lansing, Michigan, United States
"Prentice Brown, a lawyer and Michigan senator, had to travel from his home in the Upper Peninsula to the state capital of Lansing, where he was due to argue a case before the state Supreme Court."
New York, United States
"Working closely with New York-based Jewish engineer David Steinman on the design, Rubin oversaw the five-mile feat of engineering many thought impossible, then continued to run the bridge authority for 36 years."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 54023
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2025-06-12 18:00:38 UTC
Curated 2025-06-12 19:00:34 UTC