DETROIT — If someone walked by Ed Deeb in Detroit Metro they would probably think he looked familiar. That’s because for the last 50 years of his career, he’s not only grown to become one of the state’s biggest businessmen and entrepreneurs, but he’s also made just as much of a significant impact as a community leader along the way. 

Ed Deeb (right) accepting his Leadership Award at FBI Headquarters in Washington D.C. on March 16. Deeb has worked to build bridges among ethnic groups in Detroit.

Mr. Deeb is currently the chairman of the Michigan Food and Beverage Association (MFBA). He was the CEO and President of the company from 1987 until 2011. The company is a trade organization that represents over 3,500 members who range from being independent grocers, convenience store owners, local restaurant owners, gas station owners and wholesale owners. 

He’s also in charge of its sister company the Michigan Business and Professional Association, a company aimed at helping small-to medium type businesses such as accountants, construction companies, physicians, architects and so forth.

Mr. Deeb has gained quite a reputation in the Detroit area for being a problem solver. For decades Deeb has brought together groups in conflict, unions and businesses, businesses and government entities, entreprenuers and residents or clashing ethnic communities. Deeb himself would tell you he would’ve never pictured all of this today when he was attending Michigan State University in the late 1950s on a music scholarship playing the clarinet.

Born in Detroit, Deeb’s family had already settled in the U.S back in the 1920s after his father came from a village near Homs, Syria looking to find a job with Henry Ford. Deeb would later put his Arab background to good use when he and three other guys from MSU, one Arabic and two Jewish, would form an “Arabian Knights” band, which was well received on campus. 

“I have always been very proud of my heritage,” Deeb stated. 

He didn’t just fulfill all of his time with music while at MSU however. He ended up studying journalism and graduated with his bachelors in 1960.  Soon afterward he ended up receiving a job with Grocers Spotlight, a food industry newspaper located in Detroit. His two years as a columnist for the paper led him to become the head of the Food Industry Association.

“There were many altercations between Arab store owners and Chaldean store owners (with other Detroiters) at the time,” Deeb stated about Detroit circa mid-late 1960s. “I was asked to be the middle man and help calm the waters.” 

Mr. Deeb work didn’t just strictly involve communicating with the Arab American community, but developing relations with all of the large ethnic groups located in the Detroit area, including African Americans and Latinos. 

In the early 1980s, tension was rising in Detroit between ethnic communities and store owners after two young people and a store owner had been shot. The Detroit Mayor at the time, Coleman Young, helped calm down residents, while Deeb did the same with the retailers. Mayor Young would eventually reach out to Deeb and ask him to come up with a vital plan with other community leaders to prevent future incidents from happening.

That would eventually lead Deeb to be a co-founder of “Metro Detroit Youth Day,” an annual event dedicated to youngsters, giving them a day of fun and entertainment outdoors with parents, leaders, officials and businesses sponsoring and participating. Of course at the time, no one would expect it to be as big as it became. This year the event is celebrating its 30th anniversary, but in the beginning Mr. Deed himself wasn’t even sure if it would last more than one year. The first event held in 1981, only attracted about 1,100 kids. 

“We thought at that time, this doesn’t seem to be too popular. We might not have to do it again,” Deeb stated. “But we said ‘let’s try it one more time.’ And that second year, we had 10,000 kids and 1100 volunteers. We realized it was catching on.”

Catching on might have been an understatement. Today the event attracts over 35,000 children and over 1,600 volunteers year after year. It is the largest youth event in the entire state and possibly in the entire Midwest. 

His great involvement in the community eventually led him to leave the Food Industry Association and start the MFBA, where he has since been able to help local entrepreneurs by providing them with workshops and giving them resources such as education, financing, training and avenues towards health insurance. He says that many new business owners can become overwhelmed if they don’t seek guidance. 

“When you start a brand new business you’re alone. You have to be the manager, the janitor, the employee and everything else all at one time. You have to put in a lot of long hours and have the desire and motivation.” 

During the first Iraq war in 1991, many media agencies would ask Mr. Deeb questions about Iraqis. MFBA members encouraged him to produce a video for the news media that would educate them about not only the country of Iraq, but of the entire Middle East and the impact it’s had on the Detroit area. More than 2,100 copies of the video have been distributed to the news media locally and nationally. 

Mr. Deeb himself has certainly put in the long hours of hard work for decades now and he’s gotten recognition for it. Earlier in March he flew to Washington D.C. where he received a community leadership award by the FBI. That’s just one of his many awards; he’s also gotten recognized by MSU, the Detroit Lions, Detroit Public Schools, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce among others. 

Deeb also says there were many contributing factors that have allowed him to achieve success over the years. 

“First of all, I’m a very positive individual. In order to work with people, you need to always be positive,” he said. “I learned a lot about kids and how they act and what they need when I worked in my parents’ grocery store as a kid. Then when I grew older, I learned to be confident from playing music in front of an audience. It was a mixture of all those things.” 

Mr. Deeb will be gearing up to celebrate his 50year career next Thursday with a roast and toast party at the Andiamo Banquet Center in Warren. Special guests will include Paul W. Smith from WJR and City of Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. Even with 50 years of success behind him, Mr. Deeb still hopes for one thing in the future.

“I really want the city of Detroit to make a comeback,” he stated. “I don’t want us to be stagnant and fighting. I want everyone to work together to help make this city successful. I still believe in the American Dream.”