DEARBORN — Michael Berry received the Community Service Award from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in a ceremony this spring.
Berry, a Dearborn resident, has devoted his life to helping the community, both professionally and personally, with education a high priority in his community service efforts. Involved with the UM-D campus since the early 1970s, Berry serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters and as a senior advisor to Chancellor Daniel Little on issues which affect the Arab American community in southeast Michigan.
Berry also served on the founding committee for UM-D’s Center for Arab American Studies. Last year, Berry and his wife, Cindy Hanes-Berry, established an endowed scholarship to provide need-based scholarship support for students on campus.
A senior partner for 50 years in the law firm Berry, Francis, Seifman, Salamey & Harris, he first became involved in politics more than 60 years ago. Berry was active in the 16th Congressional District of the Democratic Party and served as elector for the district in 1960. He also became a precinct delegate and eventually district chairman.
Berry is probably best known in the political arena for his years of service on the Wayne County Road Commission, serving from 1967 to 1983, spending most of those years as chairman.