David Simon, the sometimes bombastic chief executive officer of Simon Property Group who led the real estate investment trust into a mall powerhouse, died on Sunday at age 64.
The cause of death was cancer, according to a press release from the board Monday.
His son Eli Simon, who began working at the company in 2019 and was named chief operating officer last year, took over as CEO on Monday. He will also continue as COO.
Under David Simon’s leadership – he became CEO three decades ago at age 33 – the company grew from a regional real estate enterprise to a publicly traded REIT with stakes in more than 250 properties across North America, Europe and Asia. Funds from operations last year reached $4.7 billion.
Nick Egelanian, president of retail development firm SiteWorks, said that Simon “was by far the most important and influential leader in the U.S. mall industry” and that it won’t be easy to fill his shoes.
Most recently Simon Property Group managed to extract concessions from Saks Global — the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, now in bankruptcy — that would give the REIT an unusual level of freedom to revamp dozens of its properties. The company, known for its large portfolio of A-graded malls, has also turned its attention to B properties for growth.
“As others stood by and watched the mall industry decline, David executed one game-changing move after another – building the industry's most important portfolio and maximizing value, even as he strategically shed failing assets,” Egelanian said by phone. “As many great leaders are, he was known to be intense and even volatile at times, but he’ll be very hard to replace.”
