Longtime Urban Land Institute leader A. Alfred Taubman passed away following a heart attack on April 17, 2015. He was 91.
Taubman, a real estate industry icon who pioneered the development of enclosed shopping malls, had been a ULI Foundation governor since 1985. He served as a trustee from 1980 through 1992, and was a member of the ULI Advisory Services committee from 1995 to 1996.
In 1950, he founded the Taubman Company in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The company quickly expanded from the development of freestanding businesses to shopping centers, including the development of Arborland Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, one of the nation’s early suburban shopping malls, which opened in 1961.
“Al Taubman was one of real estate’s true visionaries,” said Patrick L. Phillips, ULI’s global chief executive officer. “He anticipated how American cities were growing, and how consumer behavior was changing, and he developed innovative projects that met those needs. He also exemplified ULI’s tradition of giving back to his industry, to the Institute, and, above all, to his community.”
The ULI Foundation will be making a donation to the Detroit Institute of Arts to honor Taubman’s memory.
