Businessman and philanthropist David Azrieli died Wednesday morning, at the age of 92. Azrieli is best known in Israel for the fleet of shopping malls owned by the Azrieli Group. He was one of the first real estate developers to popularize the construction of shopping malls in Israel. The iconic Azrieli Center towers in Tel Aviv have since become a city landmark. Azrieli was born in Poland in 1922, and fled from the Nazis at age 17, escaping to Russia and then Israel. His parents died in the Holocaust. He fought in the War of Independence and studied architecture at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. In 1954, he moved to Canada and established what would become his real estate empire. Azrieli's daughter Danna was appointed acting chairwoman of the Azrieli Group as her father's health deteriorated last week. The billionaire businessman was well known for his philanthropy, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to schools, universities and Holocaust education initiatives through the Azrieli Foundation.
