Few working in media had the kind of quiet impact that Dick Kernen did during his lengthy career.
Especially in his role as placement director and chief ambassador of the Specs Howard School of Media Arts in Southfield, Kernen â who passed away Friday, Dec. 18, at age 82, from natural causes â was behind, without exaggeration, thousands of careers in the radio, television and communications industry. Much-loved and well-respected, Kernen was known as Uncle Dick around the school and valued for his advice, advocacy and insight â and for an endless array of stories about alumni and the Michigan radio community in general.
And at Stackerz restaurant on Lahser Road, where he d dine four or five days a week and was considered like family, Kernen is immortalized with a sandwich that bears his name the No. 15 with tuna fish, cheddar cheese, bacon and lettuce on onion roll.