Stephen M. Ross Biography

Stephen M. Ross (born May 10, 1940 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American real estate developer living in New York City. He is the founder, chairman and majority owner of The Related Companies, L.P., a global real estate company he formed in 1972. Related is best known for developing the Time Warner Center, where Ross currently lives and works, as well as its new $15 billion Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project. According to Forbes magazine, Ross has a net worth of $4.4 billion.

A resident of Miami Beach, Ross is also the principal owner of the Miami Dolphins and Sun Life Stadium.

Ross is a major benefactor of his alma mater, the University of Michigan; with lifetime contributions of $313 million to the university, he is the largest donor in university history. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Ross's higher education gifts rank behind only billionaire New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has contributed $350 million to Johns Hopkins University. The University of Michigan renamed its business school, the Ross School of Business, in Ross's honor in 2004, after Ross made a $100 million gift to fund a new business-school building. In September 2013, Ross donated $200 million to the University ($100 million to the Business School and $100 million to Michigan athletics), the largest single gift in the history of the university; the University of Michigan announced plans to rename the university's athletics campus in his honor. Ross also gave $5 million to the athletic department's academic center and $1 million to endow a professorship in real estate at the Ross School of Business.

Early life and education

Ross was raised in a Jewish family in Detroit and later graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School. He attended the University of Florida and then transferred to the University of Michigan Business School, where he earned his bachelor's degree in accounting in 1962. He later received a Juris Doctorate from the Wayne State School of Law in 1965 and an LL.M. degree in Taxation from the New York University School of Law in 1966.

Career

Ross began his career as a tax attorney at Coopers & Lybrand in Detroit. Bored with the work, he moved to New York City in 1968 and accepted a position as an assistant vice president in the real estate subsidiary of Laird Inc. Later he worked in the corporate finance department of Bear Stearns. In 1972, certain his future was in real estate, he struck out on his own. Living off $10,000 lent to him by his mother (his wealthy uncle Max Fisher did not assist him), he utilized his federal tax law knowledge to organize deals for wealthy investors seeking to shelter income using tax losses from investments in federally subsidized affordable housing. He was quite successful and earned $150,000 in his first year. Soon he was arranging more complicated transactions and using profits from these ventures to fund his own real estate developments. Emphasizing high-quality architecture and engineering, Ross quickly earned a solid reputation in the American real estate arena. With a focus on the northeastern United States and Florida, he developed apartments, condominiums, retail, office parks and mixed-use developments. In 1972, he founded The Related Companies, a real estate development company.

The Related Companies

Related is a fully integrated real estate development company, a highly diversified industry leader with experience in virtually every aspect of development, acquisitions, management, finance, marketing and sales. Headquartered in New York City, Related has offices and major real estate developments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, South Florida, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai and boasts a team of approximately 2,000 professionals. The company's existing portfolio of real estate assets, valued at over $15 billion, is made up of best-in-class mixed-use, residential, retail, office, trade show and affordable properties in premier high-barrier-to-entry markets. Related is the largest owner of luxury residential rental properties in New York with over 5,000 units in its portfolio and has developed preeminent mixed-use projects such as Time Warner Center in New York and CityPlace in West Palm Beach and is currently developing the 26-acre Hudson Yards project on Manhattan's west side. Related also manages approximately $1.5 billion of equity capital on behalf of sovereign wealth funds, public pension plans, multi-managers, endowments, Taft Hartley plans and family offices.

Related also owns Equinox Fitness Clubs and a partnership interest in Union Square Events, the catering, culture, sports, and events business of Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group.

Miami Dolphins

In February 2008, Ross bought 50 percent of the Miami Dolphin franchise, Dolphin Stadium and surrounding land from then-owner Wayne Huizenga for $550 million, with an agreement to later become the Dolphins' managing general partner. On January 20, 2009, Ross closed on the purchase of an additional 45 percent of the team from Wayne Huizenga. The total value of the deal was $1.1 billion. This means Ross is now the owner of 95% of both the franchise and the stadium. Ross announced his intention to keep Bill Parcells as the director of football operations. Parcells later stepped down from his position shortly before the 2010 NFL season. Since buying the Dolphins, Ross has brought in Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams, as minority owners of the team. In 2013, Ross made a push to obtain multimillion dollar public funding from the state of Florida and Miami-Dade taxpayers to help renovate Sun Life Stadium, the Dolphins' home field. After this effort failed in the Florida legislature, a team spokesman described the Dolphins' future in Miami as bleak. Although Ross said he intends to keep the Dolphins "in town", there has been speculation that the team may seek to move out of Miami proper to a nearby locale such as Palm Beach.

RSE Ventures

In 2012, Ross and Matt Higgins formed RSE Ventures, a sports marketing, technology and entertainment holding company. RSE Ventures specializes in accelerating innovation and adoption around the live experience, leveraging its network of companies to create or acquire new content and technology.

Civic and philanthropic leadership

Ross was co-chair of the University of Michigan's fund raising campaign, which was completed May 2007. He is currently serving on President Mary Sue Coleman's Advisory Group and the Director's Cabinet in the University's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

In 2004, Ross made the single largest contribution (at the time) to the University of Michigan by donating $100 million to the school. The University renamed its business school, Ross School of Business in his honor. On September 12, 2013, it was announced Ross had committed an additional $200 million gift to the University, to be distributed equally among the Ross School of Business and the University's athletic department. It replaced Charlie Munger's 2013 contribution of $115 million as the largest single gift in the University's history.

He was on the executive committee of NYC2012, New York's initiative to bring the summer Olympic Games to New York City in 2012, which failed when London won instead. Ross is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Equinox Holdings, Inc. and chairperson emeritus of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the city's leading real estate trade association. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the Guggenheim Foundation, Ross was involved in the planning of a major renovation of the Frank Lloyd Wright iconic building in New York and other new museums. He is a trustee of New York Presbyterian Hospital, the Urban Land Institute, the NY Chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, the Levin Institute and is a director of the Jackie Robinson Foundation and the World Resources Institute. He also serves on the Executive Committee and is a trustee of Lincoln Center.

Honors and awards

Over the years, Ross has received numerous honors for his business, civic, and philanthropic activities. Most recently, he was named the third Most Powerful Person in New York Real Estate by the New York Observer, Multi-Family Property Executive of the Year by Commercial Property News, and Housing Person of the Year by the National Housing Conference. He also received The National Building Museum Honor Award, REBNY's Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award and the Jack D. Weiler Award from UJA. Crain's New York named Ross one of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in Business and he was recognized by NYC & Company with their Leadership in Tourism Award.

Political views

Ross was a major supporter and contributor to the 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney.

Personal life

Ross and his wife Kara Ross (née Gaffney), an entrepreneur and jewelry designer, reside in New York with her two daughters from a previous marriage. Ross has two of his own children from his first marriage. The Rosses also own a 11,000 sq ft oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach.

Ross's uncle Max M. Fisher was a successful financier and philanthropist from Detroit, Michigan.