Alfred Taubman, Mall Mogul and Philanthropist, Dies at 91

Image by getty images
Billionaire mall developer and prominent philanthropist A. Alfred Taubman, who launched the mall business Taubman Centers Inc in 1950, died on Friday of a heart attack, his son said. He was 91.
Robert Taubman, who is also the CEO of Taubman Centers, said in a statement to employees that his father died Friday evening in his Bloomfield Hills, Michigan home after dinner.
“He was so proud of what this wonderful company he founded 65 years ago has accomplished,” Taubman said in the statement. “One thing that will never be taken from us is Alfred Taubman’s vision that will continue to guide and inspire us.”
Taubman, whose net worth was estimated at $3.1 billion by Forbes magazine, rose to prominence largely for his insights into designing and developing retail properties, which transformed the American shopping landscape, according to his website.
Taubman Centers grew to own retail locations in cities from Los Angeles to New York City, and now has approximately 3,000 stores operated by mall tenants under some 850 trade names.
He later turned his attention to philanthropy, establishing and funding centers at Harvard University, Brown University, and at the medical school of his alma mater, University of Michigan. He also served as the president of the City of Detroit Arts Commission, his website said.
He was indicted in 2001 by the U.S. government while chairman of the board at Sotheby’s art auction house over an international price-fixing conspiracy with competing auction house Christie’s.
Sotheby’s paid a $45 million fine in the criminal case and Taubman served roughly 10 months in prison.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
In Case You Missed It
-
Food This Passover, try a big, glorious spring salad for the karpas
-
Fast Forward Just 1 Jewish coach still in NCAA title contention as Todd Golden’s Florida faces Houston in men’s basketball final
-
Fast Forward Breakthrough Prize winner Dennis Gaitsgory is planning to attend a protest in Israel
-
Fast Forward Netanyahu in Washington again to meet with Trump to discuss tariffs, Gaza
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.