Famous people's places / Ferndale
Machpelah Cemetery
A Jewish cemetery in Ferndale, founded in 1912, and the resting place of World War II Medal of Honor recipient Raymond Zussman.
01 / The story of this place
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David Oppenheim founded Machpelah Cemetery in 1912 on Woodward Avenue in what is now Ferndale, on land that had previously been the Granger farm and mill property, one of the first manufacturing sites in the area. Oppenheim built and personally maintained the grounds as a dignified resting place for metro Detroit's growing Jewish community, and after his death his children set up a trust in 1950 to keep the cemetery and its chapel maintained permanently. Among those buried here is Raymond Zussman, a Detroit-born Army officer who was killed in France in September 1944 and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military decoration, for his actions leading a tank platoon under fire; his remains were reburied at Machpelah in 1949 after being brought home from Europe. The cemetery remains an active Jewish burial ground today, still run by the Oppenheim family's association.
- Founded in 1912 by David Oppenheim on Woodward Avenue
- One of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in metro Detroit
- Medal of Honor recipient Raymond Zussman reburied here in 1949
- Still maintained today by the Oppenheim family's cemetery association
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 1
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Raymond Zussman 1917–1944 · soldier, Medal of Honor recipient
Buried here
Jewish cemetery in Ferndale where Zussman was reburied in 1949.
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Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
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