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A. Alfred Taubman

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A. Alfred Taubman
File:Taubman-Alfred.jpg
Born
Adolph Alfred Taubman

(1924-01-31)January 31, 1924
Pontiac, Michigan, US
DiedApril 17, 2015(2015-04-17) (aged 91)
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, US
NationalityAmerican
EducationThe University of Michigan, Lawrence Technological University
Known forDesigning the modern indoor shopping mall
Spouse(s)Reva Kolodney
(1948–1977; divorced)
Judith (Mazor) Rounick (1982–2015; his death)
Children3 with Kolodney:
--Gayle Taubman Kalisman
--Robert S. Taubman
--William S. Taubman
2 stepchildren:
--Christopher Rounick
--Tiffany Rounick Dubin
Parent(s)Philip Taubman
Fannie Ester Blustin
Interior of The Mall at Short Hills.
Pictured is The Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, which was developed by Taubman's company.

Adolph Alfred Taubman (January 31, 1924 – April 17, 2015) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.[2]

Background

Taubman was born in Pontiac, Michigan, on January 31, 1924, to Jewish immigrants Fannie Ester Blustin and Philip Taubman.[2] His parents came to the United States from Białystok, in northeastern Poland. His mother was his father's second cousin. Philip took a job with the Wilson Foundry Company in Iowa, transferred to Pontiac in 1920, became a fruit farmer, then began developing commercial real estate and custom homes.[3]

Taubman's parents lost everything in the Depression of the 1930s, and Taubman at age 9 had to find work to help support the family.[4] He is a graduate of Pontiac Central High School.

Taubman studied architecture at the University of Michigan where he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity and Lawrence Technological University, but graduated from neither.

Shopping mall development

His developments such as the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey continue to be ranked among the most profitable shopping centers in the country.[4] He made a fortune which Forbes magazine estimated at $3.1 billion and was on the list of Forbes 400 Richest Americans for two decades.

In October 2003, his real estate firm Taubman Centers survived a hostile takeover bid by the Simon Property Group and Westfield America.[5]

Sotheby's

Taubman bought the ailing British auction house, Sotheby's, in 1983, acting as a white knight when the company was threatened by a hostile and unwanted takeover by Marshall Cogan and Stephen Swid of General Felt.[6][7] He revived the fortunes of Sotheby's, which had been slumping in the eighties; he took the company public in 1988. His family divested controlling interest in Sotheby's by September 2005.[8]

Antitrust conviction

In the early 2000s, an investigation into alleged price-fixing between Sotheby's and rival auction house Christie's led to a confession by Sotheby's CEO Diana Brooks of an elaborate price fixing scheme with her counterpart at Christie's, Christopher Davidge.[4] In a plea bargain arrangement, prosecutors offered to keep her out of prison if she agreed to implicate Taubman. She did, and thereafter Taubman was convicted in a jury trial of price fixing.[9][10][11] He was fined $7.5 million (USD) and imprisoned for ten months in 2002 for antitrust violations.[12][13][14] Taubman was released in 2003,[15] and continued to insist on his innocence.[14]

Other business

Taubman bought A&W Restaurants in 1982,[16] and sold it to Sagittarius Acquisitions in December 1994.[16]

From 1983 to 1984, Taubman was the majority owner of the Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League. Although the Panthers acquired a fairly loyal following and won the first USFL title in 1983, the USFL's decision to move from the spring to the fall led Taubman to merge his team with the Oakland Invaders for the 1985 season, with himself as majority owner of the Invaders. That team folded along with the rest of the USFL after the 1985 season.

Personal life

Taubman was married twice:

  • In 1948, Taubman married his college sweetheart, Reva Kolodney. In 1977, they divorced after 29 years of marriage.[3] They had three children:

In 1982, he married Judith Mazor Rounick[3] (b. 1943 as Jehudit Mazor), the daughter of a paste jewelry importer-exporter[20] and a former Miss Israel in 1962.[21] Judy grew up in Israel and had two children from a previous marriage to clothing manufacturer Herbert Rounick: Christopher Rounick and Tiffany Rounick Dubin (formerly married to real estate developer Louis Dubin).[3][22] Judith's brother is Boaz Mazor who is the sales director for Oscar de la Renta.[20][23]

Taubman died on April 17, 2015, of a heart attack at the age of 91 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.[24]

Philanthropy

Picture of a modern office-like building with extensive glass facade.
The A. Alfred Taubman Student Services Center at Lawrence Technological University has an extensive glass facade and modern design. Picture taken in November 2006.

Taubman has donated large sums to the University of Michigan, and many buildings there are named after him, including the A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building, the Taubman Health Sciences Library and Taubman Health Care Center. A school within the university is also named for him: the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Taubman is also a major sponsor of disease research: his latest donation, a gift of $5 million to support the University of Michigan's Dr. Eva Feldman's and Dr. Yehoash Raphael's research, was aimed at the development of new treatments for Lou Gehrig's Disease and deafness, respectively.[25] In 2011, Taubman donated $56 million to medical research. These donations brought his lifetime giving to Michigan to $141 million.

He also donated to the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, and The Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard University.

The A. Alfred Taubman Student Services Center at Lawrence Technological University was completed in 2006,[26] and ground was broken in September, 2015 for the A. Alfred Taubman Engineering, Architecture, and Life Sciences Complex at Lawrence Tech.[27] Taubman had also taught a class at LTU focusing on his retail real estate development experience.[28]

The A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education at the College for Creative Studies was completed in 2009, in which Taubman contributed $15 million to the $145 million restoration and remodeling of what once was the General Motors Argonaut Building.[29]

Further reading

  • Mason, Christopher. The Art of the Steal: Inside the Sotheby's-Christie's Auction House Scandal. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 2004. ISBN 0-399-15093-5
  • Taubman, A. Alfred. Threshold Resistance: The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer. ThresholdResistance.com New York: Collins. 2007 ISBN 978-0-06-123537-5

See also

References

  1. ^ "Alfred Taubman - Forbes". May 10, 2015. Archived from the original on May 10, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Robert D. McFadden (April 18, 2015). "A. Alfred Taubman, Former Sotheby's Owner and Mall Developer, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2015. Adolph Alfred Taubman was born in Pontiac, Mich., on Jan. 31, 1924, one of four children of German-Jewish immigrants, Philip and Fannie Ester Blustin Taubman. His father was a builder, but the family was hit hard in the Depression and the schoolboy, who stuttered, was dyslexic and had difficulty reading and writing, took part-time jobs.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Threshold Resistance: The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer By A. Alfred Taubman retrieved August 10, 2012
  4. ^ a b c Caitlin A. Johnson (April 15, 2007). "For Billionaire There's Life After Jail". CBS News. Retrieved December 29, 2009. Alfred Taubman is a legend in retailing. For 40 years, he's been one of America's most successful developers of shopping centers. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Murphy, Tara."Taubman Bid Gets Sweeter"
  6. ^ "White Knight" – Time magazine – Monday, June 27, 1983
  7. ^ Rohleder, Anna. "Time Line: The Rise Of Christie's And Sotheby's" – forbes.com
  8. ^ "A. Alfred Taubman". The New York Times.
  9. ^ "Ex-Sotheby's chair convicted on price fixing charges" Archived September 25, 2009, at the Wayback Machine – CNN.com – December 5, 2001
  10. ^ "Ex-Sotheby's boss convicted" – CNN.com-Europe – December 5, 2001
  11. ^ "Dan Ackman, "Outclassed"". The American Lawyer, Feb. 2002. Archived from the original on March 18, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ Rohleder, Anna. "Who's Who In The Sotheby's Price-Fixing Trial" – forbes.com
  13. ^ "Ex-Sotheby's chairman sentenced", CNN Money Magazine – April 22, 2002
  14. ^ a b Thane Peterson (April 30, 2007). "From Slammer Back To Glamour". Business Week. Retrieved December 29, 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ Runk, David."Taubman sheds light on Sotheby's scandal" – Associated Press, The Boston Globe – April 8, 2007
  16. ^ a b History Archived November 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine @ A&W Rootbeer
  17. ^ Medicine at Michigan: "A. Alfred Taubman: The Vision, the Legacy – Taubman’s extraordinary $100 million commitment vastly expands transformative medical research at Michigan and ranks Taubman as the U-M’s most generous benefactor" by Jane Myers Archived December 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Spring 2011
  18. ^ Taubman Company Website: Robert S. Taubman – Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer retrieved August 10, 2012
  19. ^ Taubman Company Website: William S. Taubman – Chief Operating Officer retrieved August 10, 2012
  20. ^ a b San Francisco Gate: A day in the life of ... Boaz Mazor" by Carolyne Zinko August 22, 2004
  21. ^ Pagentopolis: "Jehudit Mazor" Archived June 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine retrieved August 10, 2012
  22. ^ New York Times: "Bringing the Party to Sotheby's" By ELIZABETH HAYT September 26, 1999
  23. ^ New York Social Diary: Sunday in New York] March 27, 2006
  24. ^ "Mall mogul A. Alfred Taubman passes away at 91". WDIV-Detroit. clickondetroit.com. April 17, 2015.
  25. ^ Gavin, Kara."Attacking Lou Gehrig’s disease from all angles: $5M gift from A. Alfred Taubman will support U-M research" Archived November 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine University of Michigan Health System – May 23, 2007
  26. ^ "A. Alfred Taubman Student Services Center". Lawrence Technological University.
  27. ^ "A. Alfred Taubman Engineering, Life Sciences, and Architecture Complex". Lawrence Technological University.
  28. ^ "Alumnus leaves enduring legacy at LTU".
  29. ^ Howes, Daniel."Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)"CCS Center Proves Detroit Can Rebuild"] Detroit News – September 22, 2009
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