Edward J. Debartolo Sr.

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Edward John DeBartolo Sr. (May 17, 1909 – December 19, 1994) was an American businessman.

His Ohio-based business was ranked 47th in the nation's top 400 construction firms in 1971.

DeBartolo debuted on Forbes magazine's first Forbes 400 list of wealthy Americans in 1983.

Early years

DeBartolo, the second of six children, was born in Youngstown, Ohio, a center of steel production that was also a major destination for migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Anthony Paonessa and Rose Villani, DeBartolo's parents, immigrated to the United States from Italy. DeBartolo never knew his biological father, who died unexpectedly before his birth.

Rose Villani Paonessa married Michael DeBartolo, and Edward took his stepfather's name after Anthony Paonessa's death. Michael DeBartolo and his family immigrated from Terlizzi, Italy, at the age of 17. He later became a paving contractor and builder of warehouses and other buildings. Edward DeBartolo began working as a youth, translating paving contracts for his stepfather, who did not read or write English.

At the University of Notre Dame, DeBartolo earned a degree in civil engineering. His stepfather's next generation saw a decade of building jobs. During World War II, DeBartolo discovered himself serving in the Army Corps of Engineers, capitalizing on his engineering skills. He married Marie Montani and formed The Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation during the war in 1944 and established his own firm.

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Adult life and career

DeBartolo served as president of Michael DeBartolo Construction and as founder and president of his newly formed company after the war ended. Following World War II, DeBartolo was able to profit from dramatic shifts in the US. As more Americans moved into suburbs, there was a corresponding rise in demand for convenient access to shopping. Gray's Drug Store and Sears, Roebuck, and Co. department store in Youngstown's "Uptown" neighborhood was his first retail development. DeBartolo's company was one of the first businesses in the United States to install shopping centers in suburban areas. These shopping centers were initially designed as long strips, but DeBartolo began constructing enclosed shopping malls shortly, with brother Frank DeBartolo as architect.

The Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation was the undisputed king of the shopping mall industry from the beginning of the business to DeBartolo's death, with nearly one-tenth of all mall space in the United States owned almost one-tenth of all mall space. DeBartolo has also ventured into other areas of urban planning and building, such as hotels, office parks, and condominiums. He established a fifteen-hour days and seven-day weeks of work ethic. "My wife has never seen me lie down when the sun was up," he told his senior executives. DeBartolo was estimated to have more than $1.4 billion in personal wealth by 1990.

In the late 1980s, DeBartolo, a highly regarded strategic thinker, began purchasing department store chains. He helped finance Robert Campeau's purchase of Allied Stores Corporation, a department store holding company that owned such iconic department store brands as Jordan Marsh and Maas Brothers, as well as specialty stores such as Bonwit Teller and Ann Taylor in 1986. DeBartolo lent Campeau $150 million to fill the acquisition's financing deficit. Campeau repaid the money, and DeBartolo assisted in financing Allied Stores Corporation's purchase of Federated Department Stores, a department store holding company and the company's chairman, among other items, Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. DeBartolo received over $500 million in loans. Federated went bankrupt in 1990, defaulting on the repayment of the loans made by DeBartolo; the company emerged from bankruptcy after Campeau's deposition in 1992 as a new public entity under the name "Macy's, Inc." Federated's Federated positions were all realigned as Federated emerged from bankruptcy.

In 1988, he worked with Dillard's Department Stores to purchase Higbee's of Cleveland, Ohio. William Dillard, the founder of Dillard's, bought DeBartolo's shares in 1992 but not for the property interest in Higbee's Public Square flagship store in Cleveland (sold to Tower City in 2001) and renamed it the Higbee chain. By virtue of anchor stores that he owned, DeBartolo's dream of a retail real estate developer going forward with new projects quickly and cheaply would never come true.

DeBartolo is planning to rename his firm as a real estate investment trust or REIT as a result of several years of weak cash flow. The majority of DeBartolo's rivals were planning to do the same, but their operations were affected by a lack of capital in the private markets. DeBartolo and Simon, two of the two most well-known shopping center firms at the time, were on the market in late 1993. Their brokers warned them that the capital markets could not absorb that much equity; if one of them needs to back down or prices will plummet greatly. DeBartolo has agreed to withdraw. In April 1994, the majority of the Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation's properties were sold to DeBartolo Realty Corporation, a public REIT, as a first public offering. Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. was the new chairman, but DeBartolo Sr. was unable to deal personally with the limitations of being a public company. DeBartolo Realty Corporation was acquired by Simon Property Group, the public REIT established by DeBartolo's long-serving competitors, Melvin and Herbert Simon in 1996.

DeBartolo Hall (the main classroom building) and DeBartolo Performing Arts Center (DPAC), both located on a quad that students refer to as "DeBartolo Quad." On the campus of Youngstown State University (YSU), DeBartolo has also built several endowments to YSU, including in his hometown, Youngstown, where DeBartolo has made several endowments to the university. The DeBartolo Corporation is still headquartered in nearby Boardman, Ohio, although the company is still headquartered in the Ohio area.

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