Funeral Details

Shopping Center Pioneer, Judicial Reform Advocate, Philanthropist

Bernard Susman was a real estate developer, judicial reform advocate and philanthropist. Growing up in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago, he was a Jewish kid who boxed for the CYO, sparred with Jake Lamotta and other heavy weights to increase their speed, and became a CYO Champion. After traveling around the U.S. after high school, he planned to become an architect, and attended IIT (counting among his teachers S.I. Hayakawa and Bruno Bettelheim) as well as the School of the Art Institute. When the U.S. entered the Second World War, he enlisted in the Army Air Force as an engineer, where he built airfields, and later flew in A-26s as a bombardier-navigator. After the war, he graduated from Roosevelt University and turned to real estate development, starting at the Chicago firm of Landau and Perlman where he was sent to survey main street shopping stores. They found that small town main streets no longer had the space to accommodate the growing size of new stores and got the idea to put together a grocery, variety store, drug store and other tenants at the intersection of two main streets fronting vacant land for parking—perfect for the growing post war suburban economy. Thus the “shopping center” was born. Mr. Susman was one of the pioneers and was at the forefront of their development in the Chicago area. He stayed at Landau and Perlman for five years, before venturing off on his own.

Building on his success, he attracted outside investors to help finance and develop over two and half million square feet of commercial real estate nationwide, and worked with Frank Gehry, among others, early in their careers. He became involved in litigation that dragged through the courts for fourteen years. He eventually won. While it slowed his career, that experience sparked an interest in Judicial Reform. He worked with the Solovy Commission in the fight to bring integrity back to the Cook County court system and became the first non-lawyer to become a member of the Judicial Evaluating Committee of the Chicago Bar Association.

Throughout his career he was involved in charitable endeavors. As a member of the Standard Club, he served both on the House and Membership Committees, and later as president of the club, and always stressed as preeminent criteria for membership the importance of charitable giving. As president of Park View Home, a home for the elderly and a part of the Jewish Federation of Chicago, he became instrumental in developing its successor, the Lieberman Geriatric Center. He later worked with Drexel Home and BMZ to form what would become CJE, the Council for the Jewish Elderly. He also became involved in Big Brothers of Metropolitan Chicago, helping to mentor boys. As the organization grew to over three hundred matches, he eventually became president of the board. To continue to give back, he and his wife, Caryl, created the Caryl H. and Bernard M. Susman Family Foundation, supporting their charitable endeavors now and into the future.