He was in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan on Wednesday, April 15, for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the $28 million building named in his honor, and he said that he’d be back again for the ribbon-cutting ceremony when construction was complete.
Unfortunately that won’t be the case, as A. Alfred Taubman, the billionaire philanthropist who donated nearly $160 million to U-M, died Friday night, April 17, after suffering a heart attack. He was 91 years old.
The Pontiac native and Bloomfield Hills resident acquired his wealth as a real estate mogul, building his empire by developing upscale shopping malls across the United States. He attended U-M for a short time, but did not graduate.
Rick Fitzgerald, a spokesman for U-M, said that Taubman was “a great friend to the University of Michigan,” and mentioned that he was on campus earlier this week.
In his lifetime, Taubman donated more money to the University of Michigan than anyone other than Stephen Ross, with gifts totaling roughly $160 million, and he was a mainstay for two decades on the Forbes 400 list.