A. Alfred Taubman (born 1924)^[1] is an American real estate developer, industrialist, and philanthropist from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a Metro Detroit area suburb. He became rich developing shopping malls, and His company is Taubman Centers Inc. He is the author of Threshold Resistance - The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer (Harper Collins, April 2007), a New York Times Best Seller. Year 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ... A developer can be one of: A software developer, one who programs computers or designs the system to match the requirements of a systems analyst. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Business magnate. ... A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, or reputation to a charitable cause. ... Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. ... Official language(s) None (English, de-facto) Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area  Ranked 11th  - Total 97,990 sq mi (253,793 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 491 miles (790 km)  - % water 41. ... A simulated-color satellite image of Metro Detroit, with Windsor across the river, taken on NASAs Landsat 7 satellite. ... Housing subdivision near Union, Kentucky, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. ... For the traditional meaning of the word mall, see mall. ... Taubman Centers is owner of United States regional malls and has headquarters in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. ... Collins was a Scottish printing company founded by a schoolmaster, William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819. ... The New York Times Best Seller List is a weekly chart in The New York Times newspaper that keeps track of the best-selling books of the week. ...

Biography

Born at 300 Ottawa Drive in Pontiac, Michigan, to German Jewish immigrants Philip and Fannie Taubman, who came to the United States from Bialystok, in northeastern Poland. His mother was his father's second cousin. Philip took a job with the Wilson Foundry Company in Davenport, Iowa, and then he was transfered to Pontiac in 1920. He left Wilson and started some fruit farms in nearby towns like Rochester and Orion, then began developing commercial real estate projects and custom homes.^[1] Pontiac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan named after the Ottawa Chief Pontiac. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... Białystok (pronounce: [bȋa:wistɔk]) (Belarusian: Беласток, Lithuanian: Balstogė) is the largest city (pop. ... Motto: Working together to serve you Location in the State of Iowa Coordinates: , Country State County Scott County Incorporated 1839 Government  - Mayor Ed Winborn Area  - City  64. ... Rochester is a suburb of Detroit, Michigan located in Oakland County, Michigan. ...

He has been on the list of Forbes 400 Richest Americans for two decades. He studied architecture at the University of Michigan and Lawrence Technological University, but graduated from neither. He and his wife, the former Judy Mazor (a Miss Israel beauty pageant winner), are Jewish.^[2][3] The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans (est. ... The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (U of M, U-M or simply Michigan) is a coeducational public research university in the state of Michigan, and one of the foremost universities in the United States. ... Lawrence Technological University is a private university located in Southfield, Michigan. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination...

He bought the famous Sotheby's auction house in 1983, acting as a "white knight" when the company was threatened by a hostile and unwanted takeover by Marshall Cogan and Steven Swid of General Felt.^[4][5] At the time he was also the owner of A&W Restaurants, which he had purchased in 1982.^[6] Taubman: "There is more similarity in a precious painting by Degas and a frosted mug of root beer than you ever thought possible."^[7] He sold A&W to Sagittarius Acquisitions in December of 1994.^[6] Sothebys (NYSE: BID) is the worlds second oldest international auction house in continuous operation. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... White knight may refer to: Knight (chess), a chess-piece. ... A takeover in business refers to one company (the acquirer, or bidder) purchasing another (the target). ... A&W All-American Food is a chain of fast-food restaurants, distinguished by their draft root beer and root beer floats. ...

He revived the fortunes of Sotheby's, which had been slumping in the eighties, and he took the company public in 1998. He was fined $7.5 million and imprisoned for a year in 2002 for violating anti-trust laws (for conspiracy to fix commissions with rival Christie's).^[8][9] Allegedly, Taubman initiated the conspiracy in 1993 with then-Christies executive Anthony Tenant. When the investigations began, Christie's executives offered to cooperate, eventually implicating Taubman. In December 2001, a New York jury convicted Taubman of fixing art prices.^[10][11] The board then discussed a sale of the company.^[12] Taubman was released to a halfway house after serving 9-1/2 months in Federal prison in 2003.^[13] Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... The Christies auction house in South Kensington, London Christies American branch in Rockefeller Center, New York Christies is a fine art auction house, the largest and by some accounts the oldest in the world. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ...

In October 2003, his real estate company survived a hostile takeover bid by the Simon Property Group and Westfield America. His family divested controlling interest in Sotheby's by September 2005.^[14][15] A takeover in business refers to one company (the acquirer, or bidder) purchasing another (the target). ... Simon Property Group, Inc. ... The Westfield Group ASX: WDC is an Australian-owned company that owns shopping centers in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. ...

He has developed a reputation as a philanthropist. At the University of Michigan, the Taubman Medical Library, Taubman Health Care Center and Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning are named after him. The university elected to retain Taubman's gifts and his name after considerable deliberation and review. Taubman is also a major sponsor of disease-research: his latest donation, a gift of $5 million to support University of Michigan's Dr. Eva Feldman's research, was aimed at the development of new treatment for Lou Gehrig's Disease.^[16] The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (U of M, U-M or simply Michigan) is a coeducational public research university in the state of Michigan, and one of the foremost universities in the United States. ... The A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (also Taubman College or TCAUP) is a nationally-renowned undergraduate and graduate institution for the built environment at the University of Michigan. ... Eva L. Feldman (b. ... Motor neurone disease (MND) is a term used to cover a number of illnesses of the motor neurone: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), progressive muscular atrophy (PMA), progressive bulbar palsy (PBP) and progressive lateral sclerosis (PLS). ...

He also contributed money 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 under construction in 2006.^[17] Brown University is a private university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... Lawrence Technological University is a private university located in Southfield, Michigan. ...

See also

• Woodward & Lothrop
• May Department Stores
• Wanamaker's
• Michigan Panthers
• François Pinault

The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Wanamakers department store was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and one of the first department stores in the United States. ... Michigan Panthers were a professional American football team that played in the United States Football League in the mid 1980s. ... François Pinault (born 1937) runs the retail company PPR. He lives in France and is married with four children. ...

Trivia

Actress Sigourney Weaver took an interest in the Sotheby's-Christie's story while the trial was under way and an HBO film version of the story was under consideration in 2002. It appeared to fall through because the key informant, Diana Brooks, refused to speak with the star.^[18][19] Sigourney Weaver (born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8, 1949 in New York City) is an Oscar-nominated American actress. ... HBO (Home Box Office) is the premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner. ...

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 9780-399150937
• Taubman, A. Alfred. Threshold Resistance: The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer. New York: Collins. 2007 ISBN 978-0061235375

References

(Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ... Alternate meaning: For the Boston Brahmin family associated with John Forbes Kerry, see Forbes family. ... Bartleby the Scrivener is a short story by Herman Melville. ... Alternate meaning: For the Boston Brahmin family associated with John Forbes Kerry, see Forbes family. ... The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ... Cover of Money magazine Money is a Time Warner financial magazine. ... The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ... The Boston Globe (and Boston Sunday Globe) is the most widely circulated daily newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts and New England. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... The University of Michigan Health System is the wholly-owned academic medical center of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. ... Lawrence Technological University is a private university located in Southfield, Michigan. ... Southfield is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. ... BBC News is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporations news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ...

External links

• 2003 Slate article, Mall Rats: How Alfred Taubman's real estate company is shortchanging its shareholders
• Taubman quotes
• BBC video report on 2001 scandal
• Additional readings on the scandal from Stanley Bulbach