Adolph Alfred Taubman (January 31, 1924 – April 17, 2015) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist from Michigan. He pioneered the modern indoor shopping mall and was described by CBS News as a “legend in retailing” who became wealthy developing upscale shopping malls.
In his 91 years on Earth, A. Alfred Taubman was many things: shoe salesman, soldier, architect, shopping mall pioneer, billionaire, philanthropist, author, and owner of A&W root beer, the Michigan Panthers football team and Sotheby’s art auction house.
He also was federal prisoner #50444-054 for about 10 months, convicted in 2002 of antitrust violations — charges he always denied — stemming from a price-fixing scheme between Sotheby’s and chief art auction rival Christie’s.
His name, of course, will live on for decades in the many institutions that benefit from his philanthropic gifts, stretching in his home state from the College for Creative Studies and the Detroit Institute of Arts to Lawrence Technological University and the University of Michigan to Ivy League schools Harvard and Brown. He funded cutting-edge medical research from Ann Arbor to Israel.
Sources :
A. Alfred Taubman wikipedia entry.
Tom Walsh, “Al Taubman: A scrappy kid from Pontiac who never let up”, Detroit Free Press, April 19, 2015.
“Mogul and Mentsh: A. Alfred Taubman 1924-2015”, Detroit Jewish News, April 23, 2015.
“Shopping mall magnate, philanthropist A. Alfred Taubman dies at 91”, Crain’s Detroit Business, April 22, 2015.
Tribute to A. Alfred Taubman, Speech of Honorable Sander M. Levin of Michigan in the House of Representatives, May 1, 2015.