Influential real estate magnate Walter Shorenstein, who advised presidents, dies
By APFriday, June 25, 2010
Real estate magnate Walter Shorenstein dies
SAN FRANCISCO — Real estate magnate Walter Shorenstein, an adviser to U.S. presidents whose company controlled about 30 million square feet of commercial real estate nationwide, has died. He was 95.
A spokesman for The Shorenstein Company says he died Thursday of natural causes at his San Francisco home.
The entrepreneur supported the Democratic Party and advised Presidents Johnson, Carter and Clinton.
A college dropout who served in the Army Air Corps in World War II, he moved to San Francisco with little money and a pregnant wife, then joined a commercial real estate firm. Within a few years, he bought out the company and renamed it.
He is survived by his daughter, Broadway producer Carole Shorenstein Hays, and son Douglas Shorenstein, who now heads The Shorenstein Company.
