Adolph Alfred "Al" Taubman (January 31, 1924 – April 17, 2015) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.^[2]

In 2002, he was convicted for a price-fixing scheme involving the top two auction houses in the United States.^[3][4][5][6]

Taubman was born in Pontiac, Michigan, on January 31, 1924, to Jewish immigrants Fannie Ester Blustin and Philip Taubman.^[2] His parents emigrated to the United States from Białystok, in northeastern Poland. His mother was his father's second cousin. Arriving up the Mississippi River by boat, Philip took a job with the Wilson Foundry Company in Davenport, Iowa and his sister Goldye (born 1913) and older brothers Sam (born 1915) and Lester (born 1920) were born in Davenport.^[7] His father transferred to Pontiac in 1920, became a fruit farmer, then began developing commercial real estate and custom homes and built the first synagogue in Pontiac.^[7][8][9]

Taubman's parents lost everything in the Depression of the 1930s, and Taubman had to find work to help support the family at age nine.^[10] He is a graduate of Pontiac Central High School, and enrolled at the University of Michigan just prior to the United States' entry into World War II. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force during his freshman year, served with the Thirteenth Air Force as a mapmaker in the Pacific Theater during the war, and returned under the GI Bill to the University of Michigan to continue his studies after the end of World War II.^[11][12]

Taubman studied architecture at the University of Michigan, where he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and Lawrence Technological University, but graduated from neither.

In the early 2000s, a four-year investigation into alleged price-fixing masterminded by Taubman between Sotheby's and chairman Sir Anthony Tennant's rival auction house Christie's led to a confession by Sotheby's CEO Diana Brooks of an elaborate price fixing scheme with her counterpart at Christie's, Christopher Davidge.^[10][21] At the time, Christie's and Sotheby's controlled 90% of the world's market for fine furniture, fine art and exquisite jewelry.^[21]

In a plea bargain arrangement, prosecutors offered to keep Brooks out of prison if she agreed to implicate Taubman. She did, and Taubman was later convicted of price fixing in a jury trial.^[22][23][24] He was fined $7.5 million (USD) and imprisoned for ten months in 2002 for antitrust violations.^[25][26][27] Taubman was released in 2003,^[28] and continued to insist on his innocence.^[27]

Taubman was married twice. In 1948, Taubman married his college sweetheart, Reva Kolodney. In 1977, they divorced after 29 years of marriage.^[8] They had three children:

• Gayle Taubman Kalisman (b. 1951)^[8] is co-chair of the Taubman Institute and a University of Michigan alumnus.^[29]
• Robert S. Taubman (b. 1953)^[8] serves as chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Taubman Company.^[30]
• William S. Taubman (b. 1958)^[8] serves as chief operating officer of the Taubman Company.^[31]

In 1982, he married Judith Mazor Rounick^[8] (b. 1943 as Jehudit Mazor), the daughter of a paste jewelry importer-exporter^[32] and a former Miss Israel in 1962.^[33] Judy grew up in Israel and had two children from a previous marriage to clothing manufacturer Herbert Rounick: Christopher Rounick and Tiffany Rounick Dubin, who was formerly married to real estate developer Louis Dubin.^[8][34] Judith's brother is Boaz Mazor, who is the sales director for Oscar de la Renta.^[32][35]

Taubman died on April 17, 2015, of a heart attack at the age of 91 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.^[36]

Taubman donated large sums to the University of Michigan and many buildings there are named after him, including the A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building, the Taubman Health Sciences Library and Taubman Health Care Center. A school within the university is also named for him: the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Taubman was also a major sponsor of disease research: a late donation, a gift of $5 million to support the University of Michigan's Dr. Eva Feldman's and Dr. Yehoash Raphael's research, was aimed at the development of new treatments for Lou Gehrig's disease and deafness, respectively.^[37] In 2011, Taubman donated $56 million to medical research. These donations brought his lifetime giving to Michigan to a total of $141 million.

He also donated to the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, and The Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard University.

The A. Alfred Taubman Student Services Center at Lawrence Technological University was completed in 2006,^[38] and ground was broken in September 2015 for the A. Alfred Taubman Engineering, Architecture, and Life Sciences Complex at Lawrence Tech.^[39] Taubman had also taught a class at LTU focusing on his retail real estate development experience.^[40]

The A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education at the College for Creative Studies was completed in 2009, in which Taubman contributed $15 million to the $145 million budget for restoration and remodeling of what once was the General Motors Argonaut Building.^[41]

Taubman was chairman of the National Realty Committee (NRC) (later The Real Estate Roundtable) (RER) during 1967–1977. He was also a member of the Urban Land Institute, and held positions on the Board of Governors, the Steering Committee for Shopping Centers, and the Commercial and Retail Development Council.^[13]

• Mason, Christopher. The Art of the Steal: Inside the Sotheby's-Christie's Auction House Scandal. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 2004. ISBN 0-399-15093-5
• Taubman, A. Alfred. Threshold Resistance: The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer. ThresholdResistance.com New York: Collins. 2007 ISBN 978-0-06-123537-5

• Woodward & Lothrop
• May Department Stores
• Wanamaker's
• Michigan Panthers
• François Pinault
• Victor Gruen, inventor of the modern, enclosed shopping mall