Shopping center visionary Alfred Taubman dies

A. Alfred Taubman, the father of the modern indoor shopping mall, has died. He was 91.

The announcement was made over the weekend by his son, Robert Taubman, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Taubman Centers Inc. Taubman said his father suffered a heart attack.

When Alfred Taubman founded the Taubman Co. in 1950, he began to demonstrate what the company's website calls an "ability to assess and overcome threshold resistance -- a phrase he coined to describe the psychological and physical barriers that keep a shopper from entering a store."

In the late 1950s, Taubman opened his first mall, the 350,000-square-foot Arborland in Ann Arbor, Mich. In 1983, he bought the auction house Sotheby's. And in 2002 he was jailed following a conviction for conspiring with rival auction house Christie's to fix auction house commission rates to maximize profits. He was released in 2003 after having served nine months in prison.

Over more than six decades, his company operated nearly 20 properties in the continental United States, including well-known developments such as the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey and the Shops at Crystals, in Las Vegas. Just last month Alfred Taubman had joined his sons Robert and William at the grand opening of the Mall of San Juan in Puerto Rico.

“One thing that will never be taken from us is Alfred Taubman's vision that will continue to guide and inspire us. Our family thanks you for all your kind thoughts and support through this very difficult time” said Robert S. Taubman.