Who is Ted Lerner? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Theodore N. Lerner

Age: 99 Years, 99 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Annette M. Lerner (m. 1951)

father: Mayer Lerner

mother: ‎Ethel

siblings: Esther lerner, Lawrence Lerner

children: Debra Lerner Cohen, Mark D. Lerner, Marla Lerner Tanenbaum

Real Estate Entrepreneurs American Men

Founder/Co-Founder: Lerner Enterprises

More Facts

education: George Washington University

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Childhood & Early Life

Ted Lerner was born on October 15, 1925, in Washington DC, to Mayer and Ethel Lerner. Ted has a brother named Lawrence and a sister named Esther. Since their parents were Jewish by faith Ted and his siblings were brought up in Orthodox Jewish tradition.

Ted started his education at Raymond Elementary School. After that he went to McFarland Junior High. Finally he graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1944.

At that time the World War II was going on. After graduation, Ted joined the army as a typist and was stationed at Fort Hood in Waco, Texas. He got out of the service in 1946.

On coming out of the army, Ted decided to continue his studies and joined George Washington University on GI Bill. He first received a degree in Associate of Arts.

He next joined George Washington University Law School and completed his LLB in 1949. While he was in the law school, he used to sell homes on the weekend so that he could support his widowed mother and his two younger siblings. This kindled his interest in real estate.

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Career

On graduating from law School, Ted Lerner decided to practice law. On his first case, he was appointed by the court to represent a parking attendant charged with stealing cars he was supposed to park. The parking attendant was sentenced for two years; but Ted somehow managed to reduce the sentence to six months. However, Ted did not get any payment for it; his client managed to leave the town without paying him.

Fed up with the incident, Ted decided to take up full time real estate business. It was 1952 and he was by then 25 years old and married. His wife Annett, who worked as a secretary in the State Department, offered a loan of 250 dollars and with that he founded a real estate company called Lerner Enterprise.

The first year was really tough for him. However, things began to improve from the second year. He met a home builder, who had four hundred finished houses that he could not sell. Within a short period Ted sold all of them. He not only earned a good profit from them, but as the word got around, his business increased. From 1952 to 1958, Ted sold 220000 homes.

In 1958, Ted decided to develop real estate himself and got an opportunity to build a shopping center. It was Wheaton Plaza, one of the first open malls in Washington DC that opened in 1960.

In 1965, his company was authorized to issue ninety-five shares of no-par common stocks. Ted acquired seventy shares while his brother Lawrence received twenty five. While Ted became the President Lawrence became the Secretary. They were also the directors of the firm.

Lerner Enterprise next purchased two large pieces of ground in Tysons Corner in Virginia. At that time, the area looked very unpromising; but very soon developed into a prosperous locality. Here he built Tysons Corner Center in partnership with Isadore Guldesky. It was opened to public in 1968.

Over the years Lerner Enterprise built thousands of homes, apartment buildings, office buildings etc in the Washington DC area and thus it became a household name.

In 1983, the relation between two brothers deteriorated and Lawrence was removed from his post. It was followed by a protracted legal battle.

On 16 October 1987, a settlement was reached between the two brothers. Accordingly, Ted became the chief operating authority and Lawrence ceased to have any active role in the company. However, he remained a shareholder and was entitled to receive shareholder’s distribution. Additionally, Ted was allowed to use the resources of Lerner Enterprise to fund his other projects. Thus Ted became the sole managing authority in the company he created with his wife’s money.

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Major Works

Other than Wheaton Plaza and Tysons Corner, some other major ventures undertaken by Ted Lerner and his company are Tysons Galleria, popularly known as Tysons II and shopping centers like White Flint and Dulles Town Center.

Ted also has a partnership in Chelsea Piers, a 30-acre sports and entertainment complex on the Hudson River in New York City

He is also the Managing Principle Owner of Washington Nationals, a professional baseball team based in Washington DC. He acquired the franchise in 2006 and now controls 90% of the shares.

Philanthropic Works

The Lerner family has created ‘The Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Foundation’, which provides support to many organizations like ‘Food and Friends’, ‘The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’; ‘Shady Grove Adventist Hospital’ etc.

Ted, along with his wife, is also the founding member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Awards and Achievements

In 1990, Ted Lerner was awarded with the Golden Plate Award of Excellence by the American Academy of Achievement.

In 1999, Lerner Enterprises was voted as Greater Washington Family Business of the Year.

In 2003, he was elected to the Washington Business Hall of Fame by Junior Achievement, a nonprofit youth organization founded in 1919.

In 2007, he was honored as a Charter Inductee in the George Washington University School of Business Sports Hall of Fame. .

Personal Life & Legacy

Ted Lerner met his would be wife Annette at a fraternity dance. He proposed to her within two weeks. They got married in 1951. The couple has three children and nine grandchildren.

Their son Mark D. Lerner is married to Judy Lenkin. Among the daughters, Debra is married to Edward L. Cohen while Marla married Robert K. Tanenbaum. All of them are involved in Lerner Enterprise.

Ted Lerner Biography