Several Big Names in Commercial Real Estate Died Since 2025’s Power 100
These deaths included those from the shooting at 345 Park Avenue in July
By Larry Getlen May 12, 2026 8:00 am
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While every year finds the commercial real estate community marking the deaths of longtime leaders and trailblazers, the time since Commercial Observer’s last Power 100 in May 2025 saw an uncharacteristic tragedy befall CRE, with our country’s abundance of gun crimes landing at the industry’s literal doorstep.
On July 28, 2025, a gunman killed four people at Rudin’s 345 Park Avenue, including security guard and off-duty police officer Didarul Islam, 36; security guard Aland Etienne, 46; Rudin associate Julia Hyman, 27; and 43-year-old Wesley LePatner, CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust.
The shooting, which ended with the gunman taking his own life, was the deadliest in New York City in 25 years.
Caroline Tell, founder of brand content studio Tell&Co. and a longtime friend of LePatner who first met her on a high school trip, described her in a tribute just after the shooting as “a tiny force of nature, all intensity and energy.”
“She carried herself with a laser-focused conviction I had yet to see in anyone our age,” Tell wrote of their first meeting.
On reconnecting with LePatner in adulthood, Tell wrote, “I felt smarter in Wesley’s presence. I felt important in her light — capable, seen, like I was someone of consequence — because that’s how she made others feel.”
A couple of months after the 345 Park tragedy, Joshua Pack, the co-CEO and managing partner of Fortress Investment Group, died suddenly at 51. “Josh was a gifted investor, a thoughtful strategist, a compassionate leader — and a deeply cherished friend to many,” Fortress said in a statement.
The past year also saw deep losses for the architecture community.
Robert A.M. Stern, the mind behind New York luxury properties like 15 Central Park West, passed in November 2025 at age 86. And the legendary and distinctive Frank Gehry, who gave us Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall and so many more, died about a week later, in early December 2025, at age 96.
Beyond that, in October, Saul Zabar, owner of the legendary Zabar’s, died at the age of 97. Zabar led the popular deli — which his parents, Louis and Lillian, founded — for over 70 years, acquiring a number of Upper West Side properties (including his store) along the way. His family had no plans to alter its real estate holdings following the patriarch’s death.
February 2026 saw the passing of retail broker Brad Mendelson at age 76. Over four decades, Mendelson helped shape Fifth Avenue and Times Square into premiere shopping destinations, bringing iconic establishments like Toys R Us and the Times Square Theater to Times Square, and the likes of Harry Winston, Hollister and Blancpain to Fifth Avenue.
In March, Simon Property Group CEO David Simon died at 64 after a long battle with cancer. Simon, who led his company to become the nation’s largest owners of malls and shopping centers, was succeeded as CEO and president by his oldest son, Eli Simon.
And, toward the end of April, Charles Garner, the former CEO and principal of investments at CIM Group, died in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. at 63. He had retired in 2019.
Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.
