Abraham Mendel Seiderman was born on June 12, 1952, to Jakob and Lola Seiderman. Jakob and Lola were Holocaust survivors who had recently immigrated to the United States on the USS General R M Blatchford, arriving at Ellis Island on September 25, 1951. Abe was the middle child, having an older sister, Maria, and eventually a younger sister, Sally.

Abe was a precocious little boy. At age 3, he wandered away from the new apartment his family had moved to in Detroit to visit their previous apartment, which was many blocks away. When he returned hours later, he was met by a frantic mother.

Abe also was extremely bright. He taught himself how to play chess from reading a book at age 5. He was an excellent student when he applied himself. In his earliest days, he attended The Yeshiva Beth Yehuda. In 1958, his family moved to Oak Park, and he attended Oak Park schools: Keith Elementary, Frost Junior High, and Oak Park High, graduating in 1970. While at Keith, he won the school’s spelling bee for spelling the word chrysanthemum and played clarinet in band class. Though he did not continue learning the clarinet formally past elementary school, he kept his instrument and would occasionally play it over the years. When a musician-grade clarinet was bought for him for his 40th birthday, Abe spent a lot of his free time relearning how to play.  His favorite song was THE ENTERTAINER. 

As a kid, Abe loved a pickup game of softball, and he played football for Oak Park High. He loved swimming and spent most of his summers at the Oak Park pool. He was also an avid bowler. Abe earned many bowling trophies and was on the television show Bowling for Dollars in his early teens. He also liked to play billiards and could be found at Cushion and Cue many weekends perfecting his skills. As an adult, he took up golf and really enjoyed going to the range to hit a bucket of balls during the week and playing 18 holes on the weekends.

Abe started working at the age of 11 as a newspaper boy. When he was a little older, he increased his territory to earn more money. He also helped out at his father’s slaughterhouse, schlepping the cattle onto the trucks for delivery. After he obtained his driver’s license, Abe would drive his dad to the Michigan Livestock Exchange in Cass City, MI, where his dad would purchase cattle for slaughter.

In 12th grade, Abe worked as a co-op orderly in a nursing home. The patients and their families loved Abe and looked for him when it was his day to work. They knew they could depend on him to take good care of them or their loved ones.

After high school, Abe worked delivering pizza for Adam’s Rib while he pursued higher education at community college. In 1974, he was accepted into Wayne State University’s pharmacy program and began a job as a pharmacist intern at Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital in Detroit, MI. In his first year of pharmacy school, he was elected Regent for Kappa Psi, a fraternity for pharmacy students.

Once Abe was confident that he would have a profession and be able to be a good provider, he asked Simona Brevoort to be his wife. The two of them had dated since 10th grade, having been classmates at Frost Junior High and Oak Park High. They married on September 8, 1974.

Having a big heart, Abe readily agreed to have Simona’s two younger sisters move in with them when they needed a place to live a couple of months after the marriage. Abe and Simona soon bought a home in Oak Park so each girl would have their own bedroom.

As big as Abe’s heart was, it was also filled with the love of traveling. Before their children were born, he and Simona took trips to Florida, New Orleans, the UP, Montreal, Toronto, California, Washington, the Pacific Rim, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Abe also loved to gamble and was good at it, with his mainstay being Blackjack, so there were many trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas as well.

Abe also traveled with his father, who by then owned Mars Tanning Company, a company that bought leather in Peabody, Massachusetts, and sold it to shoe store owners in Metro Detroit. It was on these long trips to Peabody that Abe and his dad had time to get to know one another, with his dad telling Abe of his experiences before, during, and after the Holocaust in order to keep Abe awake while he was at the helm. In 2011, Abe began writing a book about his father’s life, telling the story of how Jakob’s experiences during the Holocaust led him to become a Russian Underground Army Tank Commander who would eventually free his own hometown from the Nazis. Abe spent hours researching, writing, and talking about his book, but he was ultimately unable to complete it.

When Abe graduated as a pharmacist from Wayne State University in 1977, he was given the Walter Tilson award by Kappa Psi for his leadership. Soon after, he took his pharmacy boards and began working at Providence Hospital as a Registered Pharmacist.

In 1978, he began attending Detroit College of Law’s evening program while he continued to work as a pharmacist. Abe graduated Juris Doctor Cum Laude in January 1982. He easily passed his Bar exam on the multistate alone, something he was quite proud of.

Due to his interest in law, Abe was naturally drawn to politics, which he followed very closely. He knew where all the candidates stood on the issues and took his responsibility to vote very seriously. In one local election, it was his vote that captured a win for his preferred candidate, cementing his belief in the maxim that every vote counts! He also became interested in the stock market and throughout the rest of his life would regale people for hours with his theories and news about stock prices. 

Starting in the ‘80s, Abe became the proud father of three children: Rachel Elizabeth, born in 1984; Sarah Melissa, born in 1987; and Daniel Aaron, born in 1991. While Simona worked as a social worker, Abe took care of his children on days and evenings when the babysitter was off.

Abe loved this time with his children. Wednesday was bowling day after school. Abe took the children on other outings as well and spent quality time with them when they were at home. For dinner, he frequently took his kids to Applebee’s and smiled with pride when other customers remarked at how well his children behaved.

Abe loved participating in daddy/daughter dances when his girls were young. In fact, Abe loved to dance, especially to disco music. He had his own silly disco dance moves that he danced at all of the family weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvot. 

And of course, he cheered on Daniel when he played little league baseball. Abe installed a basketball net on the driveway so that he and Daniel could shoot hoops. Sarah occasionally joined in. 

There were often weekly movie nights as well. Family favorites included ALL of the Star Wars and Back to the Future films. Abe would frequently complain if the girls wanted to watch something tearful but watched with them anyhow and always seemed to become emotional and join in by crying during the sad portions. 

When one of the children had difficulty with long division, Abe painstakingly sat with them, doing the problems himself with the child watching until it became clear to them how to get to the solutions. Obviously, Abe could be very patient. 

Abe was also a generous man in other ways. He was always willing to spend time listening to others so he could support and guide them. Abe was often asked medication and medical questions, as well as about matters of law once he became an attorney. He was also the expert in the family when it came to doing taxes and completing all types of forms, including FAFSA, and he took care of these things for his own family and his extended family. He was also generous financially, helping family and strangers alike. (Because of his love and leadership, his family included the word PATRIARCH on his gravestone.)
Always interested in learning, Abe earned his Residential Building License prior to the building of his and Simona’s new home in 2000. After the house was built, it was often affectionately referred to as a bed and breakfast because so many friends and family members spent time living there. 

Abe also took online classes, learning Conversational Hebrew in the hopes of traveling to Israel one day. Unfortunately, that day never came.

In addition, Abe studied independently to become a Registered Patent Attorney. He was admitted to practice patent law on June 28, 2005. He searched for a position that would combine his knowledge as both a pharmacist and a patent attorney. If he had been interested in moving out of state, this would have been possible. However, Abe and Simona were both lifelong Michiganders, and moving was not an option.

On March 17, 1995, Abe was diagnosed with a mass in his right kidney. In April, the kidney was removed, and pathology showed Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma. After being told that the cancer had been encapsulated in that kidney, Abe went back to living his life as usual, enjoying time with his family, raising his children, and working full-time.

It was a shock when a routine chest X-ray in 2003 showed a mass in the lower lobe of Abe’s right lung. A biopsy and pathology determined that his cancer had metastasized. From that point until his death, Abe underwent many treatments to quell his cancer, including High Dose Interleukin II, oral and IV immunotherapy, radiation therapy, and cryoablation. Each of the treatments created toxic side effects that at times led to Abe’s having to be hospitalized. Though Abe had worked full-time between all of his treatments and hospitalizations, he eventually retired in February of 2014 at the age of 62.
By April 2017, the effects of Abe’s cancer, his treatments, and his concurrent medical issues all led to his being unable to pursue further treatment. In consultation with his oncologist and family, he decided to begin home hospice.

For the next eight months, Abe enjoyed life as much as possible. Family and friends visited, which allowed for a good diversion. Abe enjoyed telling everyone how much he loved listening to HAMILTON and would frequently play it for them. Visits often involved much laughter and conversation. After Thanksgiving dinner 2017, just three weeks before Abe died, the family sat around him in the family room, fireplace blazing, and played CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY. No one would have guessed Abe was in the throes of dying! He played with much laughter and vigor as he competed against the rest of the family for the win.
On December 15, he told Simona that he was dying. Abe’s favorite rabbi and his hospice nurse were both called. As he waited for them, Abe was on his laptop selling stocks, knowing that his family was clueless when it came to the stock market. After examining Abe that day, the hospice nurse said that she saw no signs of impending death and that it looked like Abe would live another couple of weeks.

Despite the nurse’s prediction, family who lived in town came to say goodbye, as did Abe’s brother-in-law, who lives in Florida. The rabbi also came to see him. She recited the Shema and MiSheberach with him and his family.

That night, it was clear that Abe was not going to live much longer. By 7 A.M., the hospice nurse was called again. Soon after, the rabbi was contacted. At 1:21 P.M. on December 16, 2017, Abe died peacefully at home, surrounded by family.