Never underestimate your impact as a SOAR LLI member.

SOAR members expressing how much they liked Mike Beltzman’s classes is what made his wife Judy decide how to honor his memory.

“I wanted it to be meaningful,” said Judy. “The man who took over the classes for Mike, mark wenzel, a sweet man, he was doing a class in memory of Michael. When I got there so many people came up to me and said how much they liked Mike’s classes. That really did it for me.”

SOAR Board Chair Susan Greenfield, and a close friend of Judy and Mike, was one person Judy talked with about doing something in memory of Mike.

“Mike’s wife of over 50 years told me she wanted to honor Mike’s memory at SOAR,” said Greenfield, “because SOAR was such a big part of his life. mark wenzel, who also teaches film appreciation at SOAR has been generously dedicating his classes to Mike’s memory for the past two years.

Now Judy and SOAR are making it official by presenting wenzel’s Film and Philosophy series in memory of Mike Beltzman. Judy has committed to making a generous memorial contribution in Mike’s name for which SOAR is deeply grateful.”

The class “Film and Philosophy – In Memory of Mike Beltzman” is a series of three films taught by mark wenzel in Spring 2024 Term. For more information, see page 9 of the Spring 2024 Schedule.

Beginning in 2007, Mike taught the class “You’ve Got to See This Movie!” for five years in fall and spring terms. In 2012, Mike started teaching the class “The Movie Club” every year in fall and spring terms, until 2019. “The Movie Club” took place once a week for four weeks, and the class discussed two films.

“Mike was one of the earliest and most beloved instructors at SOAR,” said Greenfield. “Mike taught film appreciation classes, as well as serving on the SOAR Board and various committees. His classes were always filled to capacity because Mike did an amazing job of researching each film and leading informative and animated conversations with class participants.”

Judy said Mike also loved acting and put on plays and Reader’s Theatre at The Birmingham Temple in Farmington Hills, now known as the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit. But Mike’s passion in life was always film.

“He was the film person,” Judy said. “Indirectly, he was a mass communications major at Wayne. He did a great job. His answers and questions involved critical thinking. They weren’t yes or no answers. It showed his passion.

Mike also taught film classes in Sarasota, Florida at Ringling College of Art and Design.  “In Sarasota he did a film class with the same kind of audience as SOAR except they were from New York, so fairly sophisticated,” said Judy. “Same kind of class, similar kind of schedule, and similar presentation.”

Judy said she didn’t attend Mike’s SOAR classes since “film was his thing” and her thing was being a disability specialist. However, she attended a class Mike taught at Ringling College and she “saw what a good job he did.”

As for films that Mike enjoyed, Judy said that he loved foreign films, something she appreciated because she also liked foreign films so they would watch the films together. Mike’s favorite film director was Asghar Farhadi, who is considered one of the world’s most prominent filmmakers. According to Judy, Mike’s favorite among older films was Casablanca, released in 1942 and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

The class “Film and Philosophy – In Memory of Mike Beltzman,” and Judy’s donation to SOAR, fulfilled Judy’s wish to do something meaningful in Mike’s memory.

“I appreciate how much SOAR members enjoyed and loved Michael’s classes,” said Judy. “It was important to him and it is still important to me. When someone has a passion, you can feel it. It was the sincerity and how real he was … and a very nice man.”