Albert Reichmann was born in Vienna on Jan. 18, 1929. His father, Samuel, born in Hungary, was an exporter of eggs who moved to Austria in 1928. His mother was Renée (Gestetner) Reichmann.
After the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Germany, Samuel transferred his bank accounts to London and converted his assets into gold, which he used to finance the family’s escape.
The Reichmanns moved to Paris and then to Tangiers, where Samuel became a currency trader. His wife led the family in packaging and forwarding food and other necessities to concentration camp inmates via the Spanish Red Cross. The family’s home in Tangiers became a sanctuary for refugees.
Albert was mostly home-schooled, his grandson Robert said.
He married Egosah Feldman, an immigrant from Romania who taught school, in Israel in the mid-1950s. The couple moved to Toronto in 1959. She died this year.
In addition to his grandson Robert, Mr. Reichmann is survived by four children, Philip and David Reichmann and Bernice Koenig and Libby Gross; many other grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and his youngest brother, Ralph, his only surviving sibling.
By the time Albert arrived in Toronto, two of his brothers, Edward and Louis, had established Olympia Floor & Wall Tile in Montreal, and his brother Ralph was in charge of the tile company’s Toronto affiliate. His brother Paul was running a property-development affiliate in Toronto.
With about $40,000 from his father, Albert formed York Factory Developments, to build warehouses. In 1964, at their father’s urging, the brothers merged the companies into Olympia & York Industrial Development. A global real estate behemoth was born, one that would make the Reichmanns one of the world’s wealthiest and most philanthropic families.
from WordPress https://ift.tt/jacZoyE
via IFTTT