Harold Grinspoon

Harold Grinspoon (born 1929)[1] is an American real estate developer who founded Aspen Square Management and a philanthropist who founded the Harold Grinspoon Foundation as well as its flagship programs PJ Library, JCamp180, and LIFE & LEGACY. After purchasing a single two-family house in Western Massachusetts as an investment property in the 1960s, he built one of the largest real estate corporations in the United States.[2] In 2015, Grinspoon and his wife Diane Troderman signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment to dedicate at least half of his wealth to philanthropy.[3]

Harold Grinspoon
Born1929 (age 9192)
NationalityUnited States
OccupationReal estate developer
Net worth$500 million (2011)[1]
FamilyDiane Troderman

Biography

Born to a Jewish family[4] in 1929 in Newton, Massachusetts, Grinspoon grew up alongside his three brothers and sister in a family that struggled economically during the Depression. As a young boy, he was harassed[5] for being one of the few Jewish youths in town.

Grinspoon briefly attended Marlboro College after high school, but left to pursue various entrepreneurial pursuits, including a year selling ice cream. In the early 1960s, he purchased a dilapidated two-family home in Agawam, Massachusetts with money borrowed from an in-law. He repaired the house, rented it out, and launched a career in real estate that spanned six decades. His company, Aspen Square Management, eventually expanded nationally, and by the 1980s had become one of the 50 largest multi-family management companies in the United States.

Philanthropy

Grinspoon established the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation, a private family foundation, in 1986. In 1991, he established the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is also a benefactor of jewish day school, Lander Grinspoon Academy in Northampton Massachusetts.

Personal life

In 1978, he met Diane Troderman, a former high school teacher who would become his third wife. Harold and Diane travel extensively around the world and have published articles on inter-generational philanthropy.[6][7]

References

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