The late Bertram “Bart” L. Wolstein was an American real estate developer, sports team owner and philanthropist. He founded Developers Diversified Realty Corporation (now SITE Centers) and later Heritage Development.
Together with his wife, Iris, they worked on many exceptional projects including Barrington Estates and Golf Club, Glenmoor Estates and Country Club, the Bertram Hotel and Conference Center, and the Renaissance Office Building, which was the first new office building to be built in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square in 60 years.
He retired from active business in 1997 and became one of the most generous donors in the United States in his final years. Iris Wolstein carries on her husband’s legacy in many aspects, primarily through her involvement in several charitable organizations and through the couple’s ongoing philanthropy.
Cleveland State University named the building housing the Cleveland Marshall College of Law the Bert L. Wolstein Hall. Other notable gifts made by the Wolstein’s include $25 million to University Hospitals of Cleveland, $2.5 million to the Weatherhead School of Management and $750,000 to United Cerebral Palsy to establish the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Center.
Before his passing in May of 2004, Wolstein completed the final manuscript for his memoir, Crossing the Road to Entrepreneurship, which he dedicated to his wife, saying “My partner, my guide, my love since 1946.” With her well-known tenacity for completing projects, Iris Wolstein succeeded in having the book published both to honor her husband’s memory, and so others would have the opportunity to gain experience from one of the nation’s leading real estate developers and philanthropists.