Josef Mittleman ’72, of New York City

Josef Mittleman ’72, of New York City; Nov. 29, from injuries sustained in a bicycle accident. An engineering professor and real estate developer. He developed such New York City luxury high-rises as The Paladin, The Grand Sutton, and Silver Tower; was responsible for redeveloping the World Trade Center; and maintained an adjunct lecturer position in engineering at Brown. He began working as a leasing and sales broker with Cross & Brown of New York in 1972 and in 1978 was promoted to vice president and subsequently a partner with Cohen Brothers. He founded his own real estate development and management company, Empire Realty Group, in 1984. From 1993 to 1996 he and his family lived in Paris, where he was president of the Brown Club of France. After returning to the United States and earning a master’s degree in education from Harvard, he joined the Brown faculty as an adjunct lecturer in the Division of Engineering. He taught and designed business management, decision-making, real estate, and entrepreneurial courses. He received the 2003 Undergraduate Student Council Teaching Excellence Award and was appointed to the President’s Advisory Committee. In 2004 he became COO of Silverstein Properties, where he worked to improve the company’s internal structure and was responsible for redeveloping the World Trade Center. He used that project as an example of organization, politics, entrepreneurship, and business practice for his engineering classes. He left Silverstein Properties in 2006 and returned to teaching full-time at Brown and writing two books. He enjoyed collecting art and donated some pieces of his collections to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is survived by his wife, Marsy; a daughter, Juliet Mittleman ’04; a son, Justin ’00; and a sister.