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Larry Weinberg (January 23, 1926 – January 1, 2019)Los Angeles Times: "Trail Blazers Are Sold to Seattle Businessman"
June 1, 1988
was an American
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 ...
who was one of the founders of the
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
's
Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...
.


Biography

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 in New York City, Weinberg served in the
US 6th Army Group The 6th United States Army Group was an Allied Army Group that fought in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Made up of field armies from both the United States Army and the French Army, it fought in France, Germany, Au ...
as an infantryman during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He was severely wounded in combat in France and spent over a year recovering in a US military hospital.California Homebuilding Foundation: "2006 Nominee Lawrence Weinberg - Founder Americal Management Company, Inc., Columbia Group & Larwin Group Companies
retrieved April 25, 2015
He attended
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...
, and the
University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
. In 1948, Weinberg founded the Larwin Company serving as its CEO until he retired. By the late 1960s, Larwin Company became one of the largest privately owned housing companies in the United States until merging it into
CNA Financial Corporation CNA Financial Corporation is a financial corporation based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its principal subsidiary, Continental Casualty Company (CCC), was founded in 1897. CNA, the current parent company, was incorporated in 1967. CNA is t ...
where it became one of the three largest housing producers with annual development of 8,000 residential units. He went on to serve as a Member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of CNA from 1969 to 1980. In 1950, Weinberg founded Com-Air Products, Inc. which designed, manufactured, and assembled the hydraulics, pneumatics and fuel assemblies used in jet engines and aircraft. In 1970, Weinberg,
Herman Sarkowsky Herman Sarkowsky (June 9, 1925 – November 2, 2014) was a Seattle, Washington, United States businessman, philanthropist, thoroughbred breeder, and former sports executive. He was a co-founder of two Pacific Northwest sports franchises, the Portl ...
, and
Robert Schmertz Robert Schmertz (November 15, 1926 – July 24, 1975) was an American real estate developer and sports franchise owner. He was owner or part-owner of two NBA franchises; the Portland Trail Blazers from 1970 through 1972, and the Boston Celtics ...
paid $3.7 million to secure an NBA
expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...
for Portland. Weinberg became president of the Trail Blazers in 1975, replacing Sarkowsky, who turned his attention to the
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
's
Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...
. Two years later, the Trail Blazers won an
NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
. Weinberg served as team president until 1988, when he sold the team to
Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which h ...
. The Trail Blazers honored Weinberg in 1992 by retiring a #1 jersey with his name. Nonetheless, although no Trail Blazers had ever worn #1 before it was retired for Weinberg, nine Trail Blazers have worn #1 since, including:
Rod Strickland Rodney Strickland (born July 11, 1966) is an American basketball coach and former professional basketball player. He is currently the head coach at Long Island University. Prior to LIU, he served as the program manager for the NBA G League's profe ...
(1993-2001), Derek Anderson (2002-2005),
Jarrett Jack Jarrett Matthew Jack (born October 28, 1983) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended four high schools in No ...
(2006-2008),
Ike Diogu Ikechukwu Somtochukwu Diogu (born September 11, 1983) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for Piratas de La Guaira of the Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto in Venezuela. Family and early life Diogu's parents, natives of Nige ...
(2009),
Armon Johnson Armon Deshawn Johnson (born February 23, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player who played two seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Nevada. College career In his three-year car ...
(2011-2012),
Jared Jeffries Jared Scott Carter Jeffries (born November 25, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player. Jeffries was drafted with the 11th overall pick of the 2002 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards. He also played for the New York Knicks, ...
(2013),
Dorell Wright Dorell Lawrence Wright (born December 2, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. Wright was drafted in the 2004 NBA draft by the Miami Heat directly out of high school. He has also played for the Golden State Warriors, Phila ...
(2014-2015),
Evan Turner Evan Marcel Turner (born October 27, 1988) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He was most recently an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted second overall ...
(2017-2019) and
Anfernee Simons Anfernee Tyrik Simons (born June 8, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played prep basketball for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He became the fi ...
(2020-present). Weinberg served as president of the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. One of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the United Stat ...
. Elected head of AIPAC in 1976 and leaving the role in 1982, Weinberg developed personal connections to
Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. B ...
, developed acrimony towards
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
, and forged an alliance with the
Reagan White House Ronald Reagan's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 40th president of the United States began with First inauguration of Ronald Reagan, his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a R ...
. Weinberg brought in Tom Dine in 1980 and Steven Rosen as Dine's second-in-command as Dine's research director. After leaving his role as AIPAC president in 1982, Weinberg set himself the task of creating a Washington think tank to sculpt the ideas around Middle East policy. Weinberg's wife Barbi was a founder of
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP or TWI, also known simply as The Washington Institute) is a pro-Israel American think tank based in Washington, D.C., focused on the foreign policy of the United States in the Near East. WINE ...
. Weinberg was awarded the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Weinberg died on January 1, 2019, at age 92.


Notes


External links


Learn more about Larry Weinberg
from NBA.com
Profile
at California Building Industry Foundation website {{DEFAULTSORT:Weinberg, Larry 1926 births 2019 deaths American Israel Public Affairs Committee American real estate businesspeople Cornell University alumni Military personnel from New York City Portland Trail Blazers executives Portland Trail Blazers owners Sportspeople from New York City University of Arizona alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni Jewish American military personnel 21st-century American Jews