Paul Tishman

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.

Early life and education

In 1921, Tishman graduated from Harvard University. He also did graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University.^[2]

Career

In 1924, Tishman joined the Tishman Realty and Construction Company, a company his father had founded in 1898. He eventually rose to senior vice president and director but he left in 1949 to form his own company, Paul Tishman Inc which specialized in urban renewal and focused on construction ofuniversity, hospital, government buildings.

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 New York University carried it forward.

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

Philanthropy

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.

Personal life

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.^[3]

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

Allan Sherman parodied Tishman on his last Warner Brothers release (Togetherness, 1967) in the song "If I Were A Tishman" (All day long I'd buildy-buildy build, if I were a building man...) to the tune of "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof.

References