Broad was born in 1933 in the Bronx, New York, the only child of Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents who met in New York.[4][5] His father worked as a house painter, and his mother worked as a dressmaker.[4] His family moved to Detroit, Michigan when he was six years old.[4][5] In Detroit, his father was a union organizer, and owned five-and-dime stores.[6] Broad attended Detroit Public Schools an