Bernie Smilovitz is one of Detroit’s most famous sports commentators. In early October 2023, the city mourned with him the passing of his wife, Donna Rockwell Smilovitz. His funeral was held on October 10, 2023 at the Ira Kaufman Chapel.
Donna Rockwell moved to Barbados after her mother divorced her biological father.
donna rockwell and elen
Donna Rockwell and her younger siblings, Josh and Leah, were born in the United States. The children enjoyed an upper-middle class education. Their lives changed after Elen, her mother, divorced the children’s biological father. Elen married a New Jersey real estate broker named Ray Schwartz, whose lifelong dream was to live on the Caribbean islands and travel the ocean.
In 1971, the family moved from their American suburbs to a rented house in Barbados. “It was a totally new environment, with British schools and uniforms, standing when teachers entered the classroom and having to wear a wide-brimmed straw hat to and from school,” Donna said. read the spirit.
During the holidays, the family sailed around the Grenadines on their sailboat. “We slept on the beaches of Mustique, picked vegetables in Canouan, saw incredible fish and coral off the coast of Grenada,” Donna continued. After Ray’s death due to cancer, Elen ignored suggestions from her friends to return to the United States. Donna resisted at first before appreciating that they lived in a unique part of the universe.
“I finally realized that we had landed in paradise. From then on, my life focused on sunrises and sunsets and a wide ocean view. On an island, you are forced to be present. You learn to synchronize with the rhythms of the planet,” Donna explained.
Elen stayed in the Caribbean after her children left the nest and returned to the United States. She dated a German national named Peter, as they navigated the world for a decade. Elen passed away in a nursing home in Barbados after suffering two strokes.
Donna and her siblings scattered Elen’s ashes in the ocean waters of Bequia. “My mother was very affirming,” Donna said. “If she was hesitant about a decision, she quoted Shirley Temple’s mother: ‘Don’t wait. Do it now. Shine, Shirley.’”
Bernie Smilovitz and Donna Rockwell shared two sons, Zachary and Jacob.
Bernie was a young sportscaster in Washington, DC, when he met Donna. The couple fell in love and married in 1985. Three months later, they moved to Detroit, where Bernie had accepted a position as sports director for WDIV-TV.
After settling in Huntington Woods, the couple welcomed two sons, Zachary and Jacobs. “I went from producing television news to producing the lives of two children,” Donna said. read the spirit.
Donna enjoyed living in Michigan. She told the outlet that during a Fourth of July parade in Huntington Woods, she “stood on the sidewalk watching and crying, it was quintessentially American.”
Donna was one of the founding members of CNN; She left journalism to pursue clinical psychology.
Donna was one of the founding members of CNN. She worked with Daniel Schorr before becoming a network producer on Capitol Hill. She and Katie Couric were 23 years old when they began their decades-long friendship. Three years later, Donna accepted a job at NBC station WRC-TV as an executive producer. After moving to Detroit, Donna became an executive producer for WJBK-TV.
He eventually left journalism to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology. She became an expert on the psychology of celebrity and fame. Donna’s website states that her dissertation Being a Celebrity: A Phenomenology of Fame is the only published research on fame.
Donna has published many articles in magazines and press publications on mental health, psychology and mindfulness. “With 20 years of experience, Dr. Donna is a mental health expert who appears on television, radio and social media. His research on the psychology of fame and celebrity has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The BBC, The CBC, among other media outlets,” reads his website.
She also founded Already famous with Dr. Donna, an online wellness program for girls and women. Donna’s website continues: “I am a humanistic psychologist by training and emphasize our innate human capacity for health and well-being. Instead of viewing behavioral symptoms as illness-related, I help clients increase their own mental clarity and decrease psychological confusion by deconstructing existing blocks to meaningful engagement in life.”
Donna told Read the Spirit that she believed happiness comes from within. “True joy is an inside job,” Donna explained. “The only true happiness is finding inner joy. Then we can share that joy with the world. Of course, mixed with some hot sauce and sprinkles.”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn