Albert H. Small (October 15, 1925 - October 3, 2021) was a

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Early life and education

Born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family,Jewish Washington - Scrapbook of an American Community: "Albert H. Small, Jr. - Real Estate Developer"
June 2, 2005 Small was of the second generation of a family involved in real estate development in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.Jewish Washington: "Real Estate Boom"
retrieved September 18. 2014 Small's paternal grandparents were Isadore Small, an immigrant from

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, and Sarah Rappaport Small, who was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and later lived in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

. Isadore Small arrived in Washington, D.C. in the 1880s, after having lived in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

upon first immigrating. Isadore was one of the founding members of Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, then a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

synagogue. The Small family did not observe

kashrut (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

, as they were not

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

. The Smalls observed the

Passover Seder The Passover Seder (; he, סדר פסח , 'Passover order/arrangement'; yi, סדר ) is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew c ...

and the

High Holy Days The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe") #strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jew ...

, but did not observe other Jewish holidays. Albert H. Small's father Albert was a commercial developer who built the Silver Spring Shopping Center in 1938, the first drive-in shopping center in the area. Albert H. expanded into apartment and commercial development. In 1950, he founded Southern Engineering with Herman Greenberg and eventually built more than 20,000 buildings throughout the region. He graduated from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

in chemical engineering in 1946. His son, Albert Small Jr., has followed in the family business and is involved in residential homebuilding mainly in Northern Virginia.

Career

Prior to the passage of the

1968 Fair Housing Act The Civil Rights Act of 1968 () is a landmark law in the United States signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots. Titles II through VII comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, which applie ...

, Small used racially restrictive covenants to exclude

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and other

racial minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

from neighborhoods he helped develop. Small served as a Director of Home Properties of New York Inc. from July 1999 until May 4, 2004. Along with the acquisition of properties near Washington, D.C., he and others received approximately 4,086,000 of operating partnership units in Home Properties. He was President of Southern Engineering Corporation and was a member of the

Urban Land Institute The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI advocates progressive development, conducting research, and education in topics such as s ...

and the

National Association of Home Builders The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is one of the largest trade associations in the United States, representing the interests of home builders, developers, contractors, and associated businesses. NAHB is headquartered in Washington, D ...

. He invested with

Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American fraudster and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the NASDA ...

Philanthropy

Small served on the board of directors of the

National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It also performs for the annual National Mem ...

, National Advisory Board Music Associates of Aspen, Department of State Diplomatic Rooms Endowment Fund, James Madison Council of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Tudor Place Tudor Place is a Federal-style mansion in Washington, D.C. that was originally the home of Thomas Peter and his wife, Martha Parke Custis Peter, a granddaughter of Martha Washington. The property, comprising one city block on the crest of Geor ...

Foundation, The Life Guard of Mount Vernon, Historical Society of Washington, D.C., and the

National Archives Foundation The National Archives Foundation is an independent non-profit organization that works to increase public awareness of and showcase the United States National Archives and Records Administration. Board of Directors • Chair: Governor James J. Bla ...

. The University of Virginia Library and the Smithsonian

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...

have named rooms for him. The Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection in the University of Virginia Library is the most comprehensive in the world about the document. Small pledged his entire collection to the University, along with substantial funds for the new building. He has given to

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

. Small has a special affinity for those who died during World War II, and whose stories are "forgotten" as time passes. For the past two years, he has paid for a team of fifteen teachers and their student partners to come to Washington D.C. as part of Project Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom This institute is affiliated with The George Washington University Department of History. Students and teachers research a soldier from their home state who is buried at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. The teams then travel to France and tour the D-Day battlefields, where they lay a wreath at the graveside and read a memorial to their soldier. After they return home, students produce a web page devoted to that soldier.

Awards

* 2009

National Humanities Medal The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Albert H. 1927 births 2021 deaths American Ashkenazi Jews American Conservative Jews American people of Polish-Jewish descent American real estate businesspeople American Reform Jews Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. History of racism in Maryland History of racism in Washington, D.C. Jewish American philanthropists National Humanities Medal recipients University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni