Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • A4

Maurice (Bud) Lezell, known as Belvedere Construction Co. owner in his metro Detroit TV commercials of the 1960s and 1970s, died Sunday. He was 95. Lezell, who was living in Sarasota, was a local icon to baby boomers and their parents who saw the TV commercials for his home remodeling business. trademarks where an almost comically deadpan style and the motto of do good that he pronounced insistently with each commercial.

For decades, his popularity as a pitchman made him a folk hero of local commercial TV, radio and newspaper advertising. Sitting at a desk behind the nameplate he looked directly into or eyes and promised to stand behind his work; the ads always included before and after pictures of family rooms, porches, basements and kitchens, many of them from modest homes. Lezell was born in Crittendon, to Russian Jewish immigrants in 1921, his daughter Amy Heber of Chicago said. The family moved to Detroit when he was 4 and he attended old Central High School, Heber said. After high school, he went into the U.S.

Coast Guard during World War II. After the war ended, he entered the University of six-month business school program in Detroit. just took that program, the government paid for it and made the most of she said. He started the business as aluminum siding and branched out into a full modernization business. Lezell sold the business to his employees in 2006, and gone she added.

He retired to Sarasota. Until the last year, he was living independently. He died of pneumonia at a hospice in Sarasota. In addition to daughter Amy Heber, Lezell is survived by daughters Lisa Levine and Claudia Lezell; seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. The funeral is to be 11 a.m.

Friday at Ira Kaufman Chapel, followed by interment at Oakview Cemetery. FAREWELL TO AN ICON IRA FREE PRESS and Bill Kennedy get ready to shoot a commercial on Channel 50. Detroit TV commercial star dies at 95 He was the master of a deadpan style By Bill Laitner and Robert Allen Detroit Free Press 4A WWW.FREEP.COM TUESDAY, K1 METRO CELEBRATE HEMINGWAY: A northern Michigan resort is celebrating all things Ernest Hemingway in April with the Good Country: Walloon a three-day event that looks at the connection to the area. The event package is presented by Hotel Walloon. The event is April 28-30.

For information, call 231-535-5000 or go to www.HotelWalloon.com. Detroit Free Press staff The FBI raided state Sen. Bert Highland Park home and Lansing office Monday, but officials said why. The FBI and Michigan State Police are conducting a joint investigation involving Johnson, D-Highland Park, Michigan State Police spokeswoman Shanon Banner said. warrants were served this morning at his residence in Highland Park and office in Lansing.

Since this is an ongoing investigation, we will not be releasing any further she said in an email to the Free Press. updates will come from the Few details have been released by the FBI about the investigation, but former chief of staff, Eric Pate, said Monday that he also received a federal subpoena. Pate said Johnson is his friend. He left office for a better opportunity late last year, and he has no idea what the investigation is about. a former chief of staff who knows Pate said.

my friend, and I hope things work out for FBI spokesman Tim Wiley said FBI personnel were at the Highland Park home and at an office in Lansing conducting enforcement He did not provide the name of the person who lived at the brick house on McLean, just east of Woodward, and did not provide any more details about what was going on there.The address of the home is listed on campaign finance records. Johnson, 43, return a phone call from the Free Press. Law enforcement personnel left the home carrying boxes and a computer screen Monday. There was also a black pickup and trailer outside the house, and a person near it wore a T-shirt that said: EVIDENCE RESPONSE FBI personnel have cleared the Wiley said FBI raids home and office Reason unknown but tied to probe By Elisha Anderson, Paul Egan and Kathleen Gray Detroit Free Press ELISHA FREE PRESS This Highland Park home of state Sen. Bert Johnson and his office in Lansing were searched by law enforcement officials Monday morning.

State Sen. Bert Johnson See RAID, Page10A One of her colleagues called her a On Monday, the Novi Educational Foundation made sure that special ed teacher Jodie Sikaitis got treated like one, awarding her a free car as the Teacher of the Year. was in total shock. I even know what to Sikai- tis said after the announcement at Novi High School on Monday. been working with the kids for a while and I love it.

I just love working with kids. They are awesome. Novi is a great district and I really love Sikaitis will get to pick out a new leased vehicle from the Suburban Collection. Athletic Director Brian Gordon said the award was well-deserved. is just a dynamite, rock star of a lady dealing with kids that have these multiple Gordon said.

not uncommon for a kid to pass away. You deal with death, you deal with so many things that a normal classroom teacher does not deal with. What she does and the heart she puts into what she does you really cannot measure that. try not to take your job home with you, but Jodie takes it home with her and brings it right back here. She lives for those kids and really does just PERRY A.

FREE PRESS Novi High School teacher Jodie Sikaitis: was in total Teacher of year known as a rock star at school By Perry A. Farrell Detroit Free Press See TEACHER, Page10A Mass transit it sure but the allure of a free trolley ride seems contagious. After the success of trolleys in the Grosse Pointes and Troy for high-spending diners, shoppers and tourists, a fresh trolley plan is in the works for southeast Oakland County and the edge of Detroit. It would stop for Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, the Detroit Zoo and the Livernois corridor of Detroit from 8 Mile south to the University of Detroit Mercy. have this concept we call Fab said Jordan Twardy, economic development boss and mastermind of the plan.

Like trolleys in the Grosse Pointes and Troy, it would link key destinations with free ridership on a rubber-tired trolley car, augmented if demand is strong by small connector buses that seat 12 to 15 people. The new service would roll from 10 a.m. until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. is not meant to be some silver bullet to replace cars. We know the Motor Twardy said.

where you have a lot of high-profile destinations in a small area, this can get people out of their cars, save them gas and parking, and make it so easy to get he said. Pleasant Ridge officials voted recently to allocate $10,000 for the first year of the service. Ferndale is set to approve $130,000 later this month really get this Twardy said. The Detroit Zoo is being asked to allocate $30,000, and shares for Royal Oak and Detroit are pegged at $50,000 apiece. Royal Oak Mayor Mike Fournier said a scheduled vote on the Fab Cab at Monday City Commission meeting would probably be delayed we can request more In Troy, a trolley car and additional SMART small buses run on weekdays on Big Beaver Road during an extended Trolley planned for Oakland Co.

into Detroit Free rides for UDM, Royal Oak, Ferndale By Bill Laitner Detroit Free Press See TROLLEY, Page5A DETROIT FREE PRESS Maurice (Bud) Lezell was the owner of Belvedere Construction Co..