By:  Ilana Siyance

On Thursday, billionaire real estate tycoon, Sam Zell, passed away at the age of 81, as reported by the NY Times.  A statement issued by Equity Group Investments, the firm founded by Mr. Zell, attributed the death to “complications from a recent illness.”  Equity Group wrote, “Beloved by family, friends, employees, and colleagues, Sam was an honest, straightforward, inspiring, creative, kind and brilliant man. He valued and embodied humor, loyalty and integrity. Above all, he achieved his own vision for his legacy: He was unfailingly a man of his word, or shem tov, the Hebrew term for a good name or reputability.”

Mr. Zell had become a billionaire in his own right by purchasing distressed commercial properties at low prices and transforming them into winning assets.  As per Forbes, the businessman boasted an estimated net worth of $5.3 billion, as of February 2023.  He built one of the country’s biggest real estate portfolios of apartments, offices and commercial real estate—never backing down from properties which most investors would consider too risky.  He also had investments in manufacturing, healthcare, drug and department stores, energy and electronics companies, and agriculture. In 1968, he founded the private investment firm, Equity Group Investments, of which he was the chairman.  He was also the chairman of and had stock in several public companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, including Equity Residential(EQR), Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), Equity Commonwealth (EQC), and Covanta Holding Corp (CVA), and Anixter, as per Wikipedia.

In many ways, he lived the American Dream, emerging from humble roots to amass his fortune.  He was the son of Polish Jews, who fled to America in 1939 as Europe was being apart by the German Invasion during World War II.  Zell was born in Chicago in 1941, to parents Ruchla and Berek Zielonka, who later changed their names to Rochelle and Bernard Zell, per Wikipedia.  His father worked in real estate and wholesale jewelry. In 1963, Zell graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.  Even while in college, he was working in real estate.  He got free room and board by managed a 15-unit off-campus apartment building.  He quickly moved forward, managing the owner’s other properties.  By the time he graduated he was netting $150,000 from that work, as per Forbes.  He also earned a law degree in 1966.

When he finished law school, he and his partner, Robert H. Lurie, were already managing more than 4,000 apartments and they owned 100 to 200 units.  After getting his JD degree, he returned to Chicago, and sold his shares in that management company to Lurie.  The two friends reunited in 1969, working together again at Equity Group Investments, in a long-lived affiliation, which lasted until Lurie’s death in 1990.  Per the NY Times, in the 1970s and ’80s, Mr. Zell and Lurie were busy buying diversified residential and commercial properties around the country, cashing in on their predictions during boom-and-bust cycles.  That’s also when they began buying distressed assets.

Zell became a legendary real estate mogul, nicknaming himself “the grave dancer,” alluding to his success turning around properties considered dead by other investors.  Despite his tremendous fortune, the outspoken businessman lived most of his life as relatively anonymous to the outside world– only gaining fame in local financial and real estate circles.  Mr. Zell also knew how to have fun.  As a hobby, he used to lead motorcycle group named Zell’s Angels, and the friends would take motorcycle tours around the world, as per the Chicago Sun Times. He was also an avid skier.

In 2007, the Blackstone Group purchased Mr. Zell’s firm, Equity Office Properties Trust, for $39 billion.  Mr. Zell was rich enough to retire then, and he was already in his mid-60s.  Like many successful business minds, however, he felt he was just getting ready for his next venture.  In 2007, he entered the world of publishing, undertaking a leveraged buyout of Tribune Company, in an $8.2 billion deal.  The media company included ailing newspapers The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, as well as Newsday, The Baltimore Sun, The Hartford Courant, 23 television and radio stations, the Chicago Cubs and Chicago’s Major League Baseball Wrigley Field.

He sold Newsday, the Cubs and Wrigley Field in a bid to reduce the company’s debt.  As per the NY Times, although he had high hopes as the new Chairman to turn the media company around (as he had successfully done to so many commercial buildings), the media company went bankrupt in December 2012.  Mr. Zell had a previous stint in the communications industry, having purchased Jacor Communications, a struggling radio business, in 1993.  That business he managed to successfully transform into one of the biggest radio chains in the country.  He sold the company in 1998 for $4.4 billion, per the Times.

Mr. Zell was an active philanthropist, donating millions of dollars to the University of Michigan, Northwestern University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, per the Times. He also donated substantial funds to causes in Israel, to the American Jewish Committee and other cultural and educational institutions.  He was also a major benefactor of the Jewish primary school in Chicago, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, which he named after his father.  Additionally, he was a founder of The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “A son of Holocaust survivors, Sam was a part of establishing the Museum’s Beyond Our Walls Initiative and was deeply committed to safeguarding the institution’s permanence for future generations”, the institute wrote in an obituary.

Mr. Zell will be mourned by his loving family, including: his wife Helen Herzog Fadim, whom he married in 1999; his son Matthew; his daughters, Kellie and JoAnn Zell; his two sisters, Julie Baskes and Leah Zell; and his nine grandchildren.

“Sam lived life testing his limits and helping those around him do the same. He was a self-made entrepreneur, an industry creator and leader, a brilliant dealmaker, a generous philanthropist, and the head of a family he fiercely loved and protected,” said his son-in-law, Scott Peppet, president of Chai Trust Co.  “He had an unapologetic passion for life, a brilliant mind, a contagious wit and a deep sense of civic responsibility and personal loyalty. All those who loved and learned from him will miss him terribly,” said Peppet.