Estes Leadley Funeral Homes

A tireless champion of racial integration, Kron held meetings in her west-side living room, organized cook-outs and pressured real estate agents to stop practices promoting segregation. She became so influential that anyone who wanted to run for school board, city council or other office needed to seek her approval."Anyone who wanted to run for office had to go talk to her," said Bill Castanier, who worked on many political campaigns during the 1970s. "That's what people would tell you right away – 'You have to talk to Ann.'"Kron, who died April 3 at age 84, helped found the West Side Neighborhood Association and lay the template for politically engaged neighborhood groups citywide, associates said. She became a king maker without ever holding elective office.RELATED:Lansing is Michigan's 2nd-most integrated community thanks to cooperation, supportFamily revels in Tony wins for Lansing's Lisa KronIn Lisa Kron's plays, joy and sorrow share the stage"She was a real leader in the community," said Ken Glickman, a family friend who does talent recruiting and management and writes about music and theater. "She was a very dynamic believer in integrated local communities. She spent a lot of time on social activities and all these different ways of getting people together so they could get to know each other better and they could integrate a neighborhood together."A funeral for Kron was held Wednesday at Estes-Leadley Funeral Homes in Lansing. Memorial contributions may be made to Meals on Wheels or Action of Greater Lansing, the family said.A Detroit native, Kron attended college at the racially integrated Antioch College in Ohio and moved to Ann Arbor, where she met her husband, Walter, according to an obituary published in the State Journal. The Krons moved to Lansing in 1964 and were married for 57 years.The West Side Neighborhood Association grew out of meetings in her living room at 418 West St.RELATED: West Side Park to be renamed after longtime community leadersAnn Kron was president o... (Lansing State Journal)

Photo: Matthew Dae Smith/For the Lansing State Journal)LANSING — Well into his 90s, Tommy Malvetis could be seen at his bar, the Unicorn Tavern in Old Town, cracking jokes and telling stories."He was here every day to open and every night to close," said bartender Kelly Betts. "He's what made this place."Tommy, 94, of Lansing, died on Tuesday night after an illness."He was a social person," said his son, Alec Malvetis, of Delta Township. "He was doing something he enjoyed and that helped him be more vibrant in his later years."Anastasios "Tommy" Malvetis was born on Oct. 31, 1922, in Haverhill,  Massachusetts, the son of Greek immigrants. He served as an intelligence photographer in the Army during World War II and was later stationed in Germany during the start of the Cold War, said his daughter, Nancy Malvetis. Photography would remain a hobby throughout his life.Related:  .oembed-asset-link { border-bottom: 1px solid #e1e1e1; } .oembed-link-anchor { display: block; clear: both; } .oembed-link-thumbnail{ float: left; padding: 14px; } .oembed-link-thumbnail img { max-width: 78px; max-height: 60px; display: block; } p.oembed-link-title { font-size: 75%; color: #009BFF; margin: 0 14px; padding-top: 12px; font-weight:normal; text-align: left; line-height: 120%; } p.oembed-link-desc { font-size: 100%; color: #666; font-weight: normal; margin: 0 14px 14px 14px; font-family: 'Futura Today Light'; text-align: left; line-height: 120%; }After the war, he became a men's clothing buyer for various department stores. The job took him to Lansing, where he married his wife, Constance, in 1956.  In the early 1970s, Tommy worked for the J.W. Knapp Company before getting into the bar business.In the late '70s, Tommy purchased the Old Town bar then called the Shamrock. It was known as a rough place."There were a lot of bikers and a lot of guns here," said Rich Bailey, a regular at the Unicorn who knew Tommy for three decades. "He really cleaned the place up."When Tommy was asked why... (Detroit Free Press)