Robert A. Futterman

Who was Robert A. Futterman?

Robert Allen Futterman was an American real estate investor, developer, author, and founder of the Futterman Corporation — a publicly traded New York-based real-estate holding and development company, which he built into a $100 million nationwide enterprise prior to his sudden death in November 1961 at age 33.

From headquarter offices located in the World Diamond Building at 580 Fifth Avenue, Futterman operated and managed 43 properties in 23 cities, refining a real estate concept he called double diversification — balancing a real estate portfolio across both geographies and industries.

Futterman was a widely cited expert on urban renewal, having authored The Future of Our Cities, published in August 1961 by Doubleday & Co — with an introduction by architect Victor Gruen. The book gives a global survey metropolitan development and redevelopment and an analysis of 17 specific U.S. cities, with a "dramatic documentation of the economic dependence of major urban centers on defense contracts and military installations."

For the breadth of work within his brief professional career, the Akron Beacon Journal in June 2008 called Futterman a real estate "boy genius."