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Shopping Centers Today -> October 2001
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SYLVAN COHEN, 87, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS PIONEER
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| Sylvan M. Cohen |
Sylvan M. Cohen, who founded the first REIT more than 40 years ago and was instrumental in shaping ICSC’s government affairs efforts, died Sept. 8. He was 87.
Cohen, who served as Chairman of ICSC in the 1976-77 term, was a fixture at ICSC Board of Trustees meetings for decades. He served for many years as chairman of the ICSC Government Relations Committee and was the founder and principal fund-raiser of the association’s political action committee. He also served as a member of ICSC’s Law Conference Committee.
“Almost single-handedly, and definitely single-mindedly, Sylvan helped make ICSC one of the best-known and highly respected government relations operations in Washington,” said ICSC Vice Chairman John T. Riordan.
Cohen was chairman of Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), Philadelphia, which he founded in 1960. The company owns and/or manages 26.9 million square feet of property in 10 states. He was also chairman of the Philadelphia law firm Cohen, Shapiro, Polisher, Shiekman and Cohen until it ceased operations in 1995.
In 1997, Cohen merged PREIT with The Rubin Organization, Philadelphia, and the combined company was converted to an umbrella REIT, with Ronald Rubin as CEO and Cohen as chairman.
“Sylvan was a visionary in our business,” said Rubin. “He anticipated the future of retail real estate and acted upon his instincts. We shall miss his terribly wise counsel and dynamic nature.”
Cohen was born in Philadelphia in 1914. He was 4 when his father died and by the time he was 11, he was working six days a week after school and on Sundays. He graduated in 1935 from the University of Pennsylvania and in 1938 he received a J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Cohen was also a veteran of World War II, serving as a combat intelligence officer in the Air Corp with a tour of duty in Okinawa. He was honorably discharged in 1946.
Cohen received numerous awards during his lifetime. From Penn he received the Alumni Award of Merit, the Law School Distinguished Service Award and The Wharton Real Estate Center Achievement Award.
A community leader throughout his life, Cohen was a former president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and a member of its board of trustees. He also was chairman of the Israel 25th Anniversary Committee for Greater Philadelphia in 1973 and co-chairman of the Jewish Federation 75th Anniversary Committee in 1976.
Cohen is survived by his wife of 58 years, Alma Orlowitz Cohen, his two sons, Stephen Bruce Cohen and Marc Alan Copland, and four grandchildren.
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