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Keith Crain
Local publisher Keith Crain, chairman of the company that includes Crain's Detroit Business and Automotive News, tells of his medical challenges in a column.
The 75-year-old executive, who lives in Bloomfield Hills, writes in his local business weekly:
Just about a year ago, I had scheduled a procedure to replace my aortic heart valve — a new procedure that would require just a few hours in the operating room, a few days in the hospital and back to work in something around a week.
It didn't quite work out that way.
They needed three tries to get the valve in the heart, taking almost 15 hours in the operating room. Complications arose and, as a friend said, I went into the "big sleep" for almost a couple of months. Unfortunately, when I awoke, I had to learn how to walk all over again. Thanks to some great physical therapists, I am down to one cane and hopefully will be able to toss it away soon.
It has been a very long recovery.
The century-old firm Crain heads was founded by his father, Louisville journalist Gustavus Dedman (G.D.) Crain Jr.
Keith Crain moved to Detroit in 1971 to become publisher and editorial director of Automotive News when the company bought it. He's credited with helping elevate the Detroit Auto Show to international stature.
