Son: Michigan billionaire philanthropist, shopping mall developer A. Alfred Taubman dies
Real estate mogul and Michigan billionaire A. Alfred Taubman, whose business success and philanthropy was clouded by a criminal conviction late in his career, has died. He was 91.
Son Robert S. Taubman, the president and CEO of Taubman Centers, Inc., says his father died Friday night of a heart attack.
Taubman donated hundreds of millions of dollars to universities, hospitals and museums, and was a major backer of stem-cell research. His business success spanned real estate, art houses and the A&W restaurant chain.
But it was his rearrangement how people shop — parking lot in front, one-stop shopping — that left a mark on American culture.
He was convicted in 2001 in a price-fixing scandal involving his Sotheby's auction house and served about a year in prison, but long denied involvement.