Founder’s Bequests Will Put Davidson Foundation Among Michigan’s Biggest

The William Davidson Foundation is poised to become one of Michigan’s biggest grant-making institutions with the bequests of its namesake benefactor, who died last month at the age of 86, Crain’s Detroit Business reports.

Mr. Davidson, chairman of glassmaker Guardian Industries Corporation and the owner of the National Basketball Association’s Detroit Pistons, started the foundation with $100,000 in 2005. During his lifetime Mr. Davidson and his wife, Karen, donated more than $200-million, supporting Israel and Jewish charities along with Detroit-area education, health, and arts causes.

Jonathan Aaron, Mr. Davidson’s son-in-law, declined to give an estimate of the charitable bequests. But Robert Aronson, president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and Mr. Davidson’s philanthropic adviser, said the fund “will have among the most significant impacts of any foundation in the state.”