Myles H. Tanenbaum, lawyer, developer, philanthropist
Myles was an entrepreneur first and foremost, having worked his way through the Wharton School selling fruit and life insurance and doing tax returns. After graduating in 1952 and then serving in the U.S. Air Force, he earned a degree from Penn's law school, where he was editor of the law review.
Mr. Tanenbaum's career spanned law, real estate development and professional sports. Early in his career, he was a partner and tax attorney in the law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen. He left there in 1970 to become a co-owner and executive vice president of Kravco, Inc., today one of the nation's largest shopping mall developers. With Kravco he helped transform the landscape of the Delaware Valley by building 10 million square feet of shopping malls, including the landmark Court and King of Prussia Mall, Hamilton Mall in New Jersey, Montgomery Mall in Montgomeryville, and Langhorne's Oxford Valley Mall.
From 1985 to 1990, Mr. Tanenbaum was president of EQK Realty Investors, which pioneered the packaging of prime commercial property for sale to institutional investors, including insurance companies, pension funds, and mutual funds. He was later chairman of Arbor Property Trust.
Mr. Tanenbaum was named a University trustee in 1988 and served as a chairman and member of many committees and boards. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was chair of the Board of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Presbyterian Hospital Board. Naturally, he was a frequent guest lecturer at the Wharton School, and in our real estate program. For his extraordinary commitment to Penn, he received the University's Alumni Award of Merit, Wharton's Man of the Year Award, the Law School's Distinguished Service Award and Athletics' H. Hunter Lott, Jr. Award.
Mr. Tanenbaum is survived by his children, Steven, Sharon and Lawrence (C'89, WG'96); and grandchildren, Eva Jeanne, Jack, Eli, Jesse, Jordan, Reid and Sloane.
Donations in his memory may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, www.alz.org.
