Brigitte P. Harris: The story behind Oakland Family Services' building's name
The Oakland Family Services Brigitte P. Harris Center for Children and Families is named for a much-beloved donor and volunteer, whose dedication to children and families was rooted in childhood experience in Germany during World War II. As we celebrate Oakland Family Services’ 100th anniversary, we also celebrate Brigitte and Mort Harris, whose legacies live on through our agency’s work.
BRIGITTE’S EARLY YEARS
Lassie Lewis, a longtime Oakland Family Services board member, remembers her dear friend Brigitte Harris as “a force.”
“She was someone you couldn’t ever, no matter how hard you tried to conjure up something, you couldn’t say anything bad about her,” Lassie said. “… She was a saint, but she was a fun saint.”
Brigitte was born in Germany in 1935 and grew up during World War II.
When the war ended and Germany was split into Soviet-occupied East Germany and Allied-occupied West Germany, people were desperate to get into West Germany.
As Lassie remembers Brigitte telling it, Russians confiscated her family’s home in Dresden in 1945. Brigitte’s mother wanted to go back to the house and knock on the door to ask if she could take a few personal items and photographs, and left Brigitte and her younger sister in the care of their aunt.
Somehow, the two girls became separated from the rest of the family and were swept up in a massive wave of refugees heading west.
Ultimately, they were lost for about four months with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Lassie remembers Brigitte saying they slept in fields and in refugee camps, eating berries to survive.
At one point, the girls encountered a train of African American soldiers who gave them food and provisions.
“Then, one day, she’s in this camp with all these refugees, and someone walks up and says, ‘Are you Brigitte? … I’ve been hired by your mother to find you and your sister,’” Lassie recalled.
Lassie said Brigitte was a very private person and was hesitant to share the story of being separated from her family, as she did not want to draw on people’s sympathies.
Brigitte’s father spent several years in a Russian prison camp, and wrote letters to his daughters urging them to learn English as the “key to a better life,” Lassie said.
Brigitte went on to learn English and attend Cambridge before she began her career at the A.C. Nielsen Company, where she met her first husband, Justin Power Sr. The two married in 1958, but Justin died young, leaving Brigitte to raise their three children.
“As a young widowed mother, she took great risks to provide a better future for her children,” said Michele Becker, Brigitte’s daughter. “I believe that because of these experiences, she had great empathy for families like hers and a desire to continue to invest in families so that others could have opportunities to thrive.”
WORLDS COLLIDE
In Michigan, former World War II fighter pilot Mort Harris had also lost his spouse. His first wife Edith had died of cancer at just 38 years old, leaving behind Mort and three sons.
Mort’s and Brigitte’s worlds collided when the two met on a vacation with friends.
“Within 48 hours, he knew he wanted to marry her,” Lassie said.
The couple began a life together with their blended family in Bloomfield Hills. They would spend the next 46 years together.
Lassie said Brigitte was an intellectual and shared a love for history with Mort.
“She loved to give history lessons,” Lassie said. “That was just her normal conversation. … We had a lot of dinner parties where it was a matter of who got to sit by Brigitte, and people would talk about how much they learned.”
Brigitte’s daughter Michele remembers her mother as a “brilliant conversationalist.”
“She listened well and looked for the beauty in others, in life and in her surroundings,” Michele said. “My mom was also a peacemaker, although she loved to play devil’s advocate at times to stimulate better and more intriguing conversations. She laughed readily and was strong and resilient.”
THE HARRIS’ IMPACT ON OAKLAND FAMILY SERVICES
Mort was cofounder of American Axle, a multibillion-dollar global automotive supplier.
He was a well-known businessman who was also known for his generosity, and together the couple embarked on a life of philanthropy, supporting causes including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan Science Center, Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, among many others. They created scholarships for the Wayne State Medical School and donated to create the Edith Harris Memorial Lecture Series at the university.
Initially, it was Mort who was asked to be on the Board of Directors for Oakland Family Services, but he suggested Brigitte join, instead.
“No one could have anticipated the profound impact that suggestion would have on the future of the agency and the wellbeing of families and children in our community,” said Michael Earl, president and CEO of the agency from 1997-2014. “… The passion for the wellbeing of children and families we served was rooted in her own life experience as a young girl in Germany during World War II.”
Lassie said Brigitte immediately loved the work that was done by the agency and brought a certain electricity to board meetings.
“She listened well and looked for the beauty in others, in life and in her surroundings.”
“Brigitte possessed a quiet dignity and authenticity that was remarkable,” Michael said. “One thing that set her apart from many others is she never had a hidden agenda. … Her depth of understanding of the agency and its work was unsurpassed.”
Along with fellow Board Member Donna Roberts, Brigitte started the Friends of Oakland Family Services, a women’s auxiliary group of more than 100 volunteers who helped fundraise and coordinated events. Brigitte was also a member of the Executive Committee and rose Oakland Family Services’ profile within the southeast Michigan donor community, Michael said.
The Harrises themselves made several generous donations over the years. One gift of $200,000 provided seed money to implement an electronic medical record system that helped revolutionize the agency’s behavioral health business model.
Later, when the agency sought to raise $4 million to build an endowment through a Kresge endowment challenge grant through the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, Brigitte and Mort made a $1 million gift to kick off the campaign. Their donation inspired other board members to contribute, as well as friends of Brigitte who were supporting the agency for the very first time. As a result, Oakland Family Services was the first of the 13 participating organizations to exceed the challenge grant goal.
They also made several other donations over the years, providing unrestricted dollars that could be applied to any area of need the agency had.
“She just wanted to help the agency,” Lassie said. “I’m not aware of her ever restricting a gift. … If we were falling short on our goal, she would quietly make a large donation. She never missed a meeting. She loved hearing about the agency’s work.”
Michael also remembers Brigitte for smaller gestures of kindness.
“She was a prolific note writer,” he said. “I would often get very brief notes from her offering suggestions and support during challenging times. She would remind me to ‘breathe deeply’ when under stress. I was so moved by one of her notes that I carried it in my wallet for about 10 years.”
The Harris Center for Children and Families
It was Lassie, then chair of the agency’s board, who came up with the idea to name Oakland Family Services’ Pontiac building, located at 114 Orchard Lake Road, after the Harrises.
“I remember doing the asking,” Lassie said. “I said, ‘We’d like to name the building. It’s just this nondescript white building, and we can just imagine how much better it would look if your name were there, and we would like to honor you. Don’t say no! Don’t even give me an answer. Just think about it.’
“… She wanted to do everything she could for the downtrodden, [but] neither she nor her husband wanted credit.”
It took a few months of persuasion to convince Brigitte and Mort to accept. They finally said “yes” when Lassie explained that having their name on the building would show that real people in the community cared about the agency.
From the early 2000s on, the building bore the name “Oakland Family Services Harris Center for Children and Families.” Brigitte did have one request: that the letters of their name not be too large.
The Brigitte P. Harris Center for Children and Families
Brigitte lived to the age of 81, passing away in 2016 from pancreatic cancer. After her death, Mort asked Oakland Family Services to rename the building for Brigitte alone, and the name was changed to “Oakland Family Services Brigitte P. Harris Center for Children and Families.”
“He wanted her to be honored,” Lassie said. “He didn’t want it to appear that he was equally to be credited for help that had been given to the agency by someone named Harris. He just wanted her to have that honor.”
Brigitte’s memory also lives on through the Brigitte P. Harris Memorial Garden and Playground, which were dedicated on the grounds of Oakland Family Services’ Pontiac location in 2017. Those close to her remember Brigitte’s love for gardening, especially for her roses.
“Oakland Family Services benefited greatly from Brigitte’s passion for gardening,” Michael Earl said. “When the current Pontiac location became our headquarters [in the late 1980s], Brigitte took it upon herself to have a landscape plan designed. She had the trees planted. In early spring, for many years, I would arrive early for work, only to find Brigitte in her blue jeans planting flats of flowers at the entrance to the building. She believed that a beautiful entrance might bring comfort to the troubled families that came to our doorway every day.”
Oakland Family Services’ building, garden and playground are not Brigitte’s only namesakes. The Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion opened at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute in 2021, made possible by a $20 million gift from Mort.
Mort lived to see the opening of the cancer pavilion in January before passing away in May, just a month after celebrating his 101st birthday.
The Harrises leave behind a lasting legacy of kindness, generosity and servitude.
Support Oakland Family Services in our 100th year by making a donation at oaklandfamilyservices.org/buildbrighterfutures. Your contribution will help build brighter futures for children and families in southeast Michigan through prevention, education and treatment services.
