Paul Tishman

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Paul Tishman, (1900-1996) was a real-estate developer and a collector of African art. Paul Tishman was a member of the long established New York construction and real estate family whose independent development company did major projects in the New York area.

In 1924, Mr. Tishman joined the Tishman Realty and Construction Company, which his father had founded in 1898, after graduating from Harvard University and doing graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University.

He rose to senior vice president and director of the family company, but he left in 1949 to form his own company, Paul Tishman Inc. His company specialized in urban renewal, buildings for universities and hospitals, and buildings for Federal, state and local governments.

Among his projects was Washington Square Village, where modern apartment buildings replaced several blocks of older housing in Greenwich Village south of Washington Square Park. Because of opposition, the project was stopped after two buildings, but it was carried forward by New York University.

His company also built the Student Art Center at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, N.Y., Ravenswood Houses in Astoria, Queens, and Concord Village in Brooklyn. He retired in 1969.

He was active in civic organizations, serving as a director of the Urban League, the Legal Aid Society and the New York League for the Hard of Hearing. He also was a member of the visiting committee of the primitive art department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mr. Tishman collected African art and had an exhibition of his collection at the Metropolitan Museum in 1981. The collection was acquired by Walt Disney Productions for Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla.

He is survived by his wife of 70 years, the former Ruth Worms; two daughters, Ellen Rosenthal and Jean Harrison, and six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.