{{Short description|American real estate developer & philanthropist (born 1945)}} {{pp-move}} {{Infobox person | image = <!-- Only freely-licensed images may be used to depict living people. See WP:NONFREE. --> | image_size = | name = Bruce Ratner | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1945|01|23|mf=y}} | birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Real Estate Developer and Philanthropist | spouse = Julie Ratner<ref name=Swan>[http://observer.com/1998/03/if-bruce-ratner-can-move-the-empire-theater-he-can-move-himself/ New York Observer: "If Bruce Ratner Can Move the Empire Theater He Can Move Himself" by Carl Swanson] March 16, 1998</ref><br /> Pamela Lipkin (2008–2017)<ref name=Marsh>{{cite news| url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/real-estate-magnate-ratner-reachs-divorce-deal-wife-lipkin-article-1.3086763 |title=Real estate magnate Bruce Ratner and his plastic surgeon wife Pamela Lipkin reach divorce deal with little ugliness | date= April 23, 2017| newspaper= New York Daily News| access-date=April 23, 2017}}</ref><br /> Linda E. Johnson (2020-Present) | parents = Harry Ratner and Anne (nee Spott) | children = 2 }}
'''Bruce Ratner''' (born January 23, 1945, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American real estate developer, philanthropist, and former minority owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.<ref name=NYT9>{{Cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/nyregion/for-developer-bruce-ratner-nets-purchase-aided-atlantic-yards-project.html?pagewanted=all|title=Nets Helped Clear Path for Builder in Brooklyn|first1=Charles V.|last1=Bagli|first2=Joseph|last2=Berger|work=The New York Times|date=September 26, 2012}}</ref>
==Family and education== Ratner was born into a Jewish family in the Cleveland metropolitan area,<ref>[http://forward.com/specials/forward-50-2012/bruce-ratner/ Jewish Daily Forward: Top 50 Jews of 2012: "Bruce Ratner"] retrieved December 25, 2012</ref> the son of Anne (née Spott) and Harry Ratner,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Bruce-Ratner/6000000011824232069|title=Bruce Ratner|date=23 January 1945 }}</ref> one of eight children to immigrate to the US from Poland.<ref name=NYT9/> Four of his paternal uncles, Leonard Ratner, Charles Ratner, Max Ratner, and Nate Shafran along with his aunt, Fannye Ratner Shafran<ref>{{Cite web|last= Bullard |first=Stan |authorlink= |title= The Ratners: Family rooted in growth |publisher=Crain's Cleveland Business|date=May 16, 2015 |url=http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20050516/FREE/305169996/the-ratners-family-rooted-in-growth|accessdate=}}</ref> founded Forest City Enterprises in 1920; originally a construction materials company it eventually evolved into construction and then into real estate development.<ref name=FCEHistory>[http://www.forestcity.net/company/history/Pages/default.aspx Forest City Website: "Our History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524143431/http://www.forestcity.net/company/history/Pages/default.aspx |date=2013-05-24 }} retrieved April 12, 2013</ref> Ratner's older brother was the late civil liberties attorney and activist Michael Ratner and his sister is Ellen Ratner, a former news analyst for Fox News.<ref name="nymag">{{Cite web|url=https://nymag.com/news/features/18862/index1.html|title=Mr. Ratner's Neighborhood|last=Smith|first=Chris|date=2006-08-06|work=nymag.com|accessdate=2009-12-26}}</ref> Ratner graduated from Harvard College in 1967, and earned a Juris Doctor from Columbia University<ref name=NYT9/> in 1970.
==Early career== After graduating law school in 1970, Ratner was the director of the Model Cites program until 1973. Simultaneously, Ratner served as the head of the Consumer Protection Division in the administration of New York City mayor John Lindsay.<ref name="futuresineducation.org">{{Cite news|url=https://futuresineducation.org/trustees/bruce-c-ratner/|title = Bruce C. Ratner (Emeritus)| newspaper=Futures in Education }}</ref> From 1974 to 1978, Ratner taught at NYU's law school.<ref name="futuresineducation.org"/> Following his teaching career, Ratner returned to work for the City of New York. Under Mayor Ed Koch he became consumer affairs commissioner where he went after corrupt merchants, repairmen and alarm companies. Ratner served as Consumer of Public Affairs for 4 years beginning in 1978.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://therealdeal.com/new-research/topics/people/bruce-ratner/| title = Bruce Ratner {{!}} TRD Research| date = 14 March 2019}}</ref> He then turned to developing real estate.<ref name=NYT9/>
==Forest City Ratner== In 1985, he co-founded Forest City Ratner, with the family's parent company (Forest City Enterprises which funded 70 percent of the capital.<ref name="Forest City Enterprises">{{Cite web|url=http://ir.forestcity.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=88464&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1807599 |title=Forest City Announces Leadership Transition at New York Subsidiary}}</ref> He developed the $1 billion complex of nine buildings in downtown Brooklyn called MetroTech.<ref name=NYT9/><ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.nycedc.com/program/downtown-brooklyn| title=Downtown Brooklyn}}</ref> He supervised the building of a 393,000 square-foot shopping mall at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in the 1990s.<ref name=NYT9/><ref name=gawk>{{cite news|url=http://gawker.com/brucecratner/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124081312/http://gawker.com/brucecratner/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-24 |title=Bruce C. Ratner |publisher=Gawker }}</ref> Bruce Ratner used eminent domain to seize private property (homes, businesses) for the arena and development, sparking major protests. He bought the New Jersey Net to build Barclay’s arena. He had Jay-Z owns an estimated 0.15 percent of the Nets. The real owner is Mikhail D. Prokhorov, the Russian oligarch who obligingly took 80 percent of the team and 45 percent of the arena off Mr. Ratner’s hands for a cool $223 million. This investment along with other dealings had an impact on Forest City Enterprises the parent company.
==Metrotech Center== Ratner's firm, Forest City Ratner, began construction of Metrotech Center in June 1989.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thebridgebk.com/forest-city-in-brooklyn-a-real-estate-pioneer-on-the-way-out/|title = Forest City in Brooklyn: A Real Estate Pioneer on the Way Out?}}</ref> Brooklyn journalist Dennis Holt labeled June 26, 1989, as the start of a "new Brooklyn."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2007/05/on-people-power-activist-journalism-and.html|title=On people power, activist journalism, and the roots of modern Brooklyn}}</ref> The complex totals over 5.8 million square feet of office space.<ref name="citylimits.org">{{Cite web|url=https://citylimits.org/2004/12/15/the-return-of-metrotec/|title=The Return of MetroTech|date=15 December 2004}}</ref> The creation of this office space brought at least 22,000 jobs to the borough.<ref name="citylimits.org"/>
==New York Times Building== In 2007, Ratner's company, Forest City Realty Trust completed construction and opened the New York Times Building. The skyscraper, located at 620 Eighth Avenue, is the eleventh-tallest building in the city, tied with the Chrysler Building.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.amny.com/real-estate/tallest-buildings-in-nyc-1.9216740|title=12 tallest skyscrapers in New York City|work=am New York|access-date=February 20, 2018|language=en}}</ref>
==New York By Gehry== In 2011, Ratner's company, Forest City Realty Trust completed construction and opened New York By Gehry. Designed by Frank Gehry, the building stands 76 stories and 870 ft tall. In his review of the building, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff proclaimed it "the finest skyscraper to rise in New York since Eero Saarinen's CBS Building went up 46 years ago."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/arts/design/10beekman.html|title = Downtown Skyscraper for the Digital Age|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 9 February 2011|last1 = Ouroussoff|first1 = Nicolai}}</ref>
==Nets ownership and the Pacific Park Brooklyn (formerly Atlantic Yards) development== Ratner first became owner of the Nets when he headed an ownership group that purchased the franchise from YankeeNets for $300 million. Ratner's group beat out an ownership group led by Charles Kushner and former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine. Ratner relocated the Nets to New York City, specifically to build an arena in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn even though there was desire to keep them in New Jersey and strong neighborhood protests to keep them out of Brooklyn.<ref name="appeal"/>
Barclays Center is the centerpiece and the only completed piece of a $3.5 billion sports arena, business and residential complex in development called Pacific Park Brooklyn.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/nyregion/after-decades-at-a-walk-up-tenants-fear-losing-a-home.html|title=N.Y. / REGION: After Decades at a Walk-Up, Tenants Fear Losing a Home|date=Feb 17, 2014|newspaper=New York Times}}</ref> This project is being built by Ratner's company, Forest City Ratner. The site of the arena is adjacent to the site that Walter O'Malley wanted to use for a new stadium for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the early 1950s. (O'Malley's plan was rejected by the city, resulting in the Dodgers relocating to Los Angeles in 1958.) On September 23, 2009, Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov reached a deal with Ratner to purchase an 80% stake of the Nets for $200 million, subject to Ratner acquiring financing for the arena project and control of the land by the end of the year in addition to the approval of three-fourths of the NBA board of governors.<ref name="Bagli">{{Cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/sports/basketball/24nets.html | work=The New York Times | first=Charles V. | last=Bagli | title=Richest Russian's Newest Toy: An N.B.A. Team | date=2009-09-24}}</ref> According to Ratner, accepting Prokhorov as majority owner "gives us a partner who adds to the financial strength of the venture. Mikhail will have primary responsibility for the basketball part and we will have primary responsibility for the arena and the real estate."<ref name="Bagli"/> On May 11, 2010, the sale of the Nets was approved by the NBA.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.insidehoops.com/prokhorov-buys-nets-051110.shtml|title=NBA approves sale of New Jersey Nets to Mikhail Prokhorov - Russian billionaire buys New Jersey Nets - Nets sold - InsideHoops.com|website=www.insidehoops.com}}</ref>
Ratner originally planned to move the Nets across the Hudson River for the beginning of the 2009–10 NBA season. However, he had to revise his goal and moved the franchise to Brooklyn for the start of the 2012–13 season. Although the arena was scheduled to open in 2011, along with the rest of the complex, controversies involving the project's use of eminent domain and local residents, coupled with the lack of continued funding in a struggling economy, caused the project to be altered and delayed.<ref name="trouble">{{Cite news|url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/01282008/news/regionalnews/court_trouble_793583.htm|title=Court Trouble: Ratner admits arena-funding woes|last=Calder|first=Rich|date=2008-01-28|work=New York Post|accessdate=2009-08-27}}</ref> On May 16, 2009, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division struck down an opponent's lawsuit that sought to prevent the state of New York from using eminent domain to seize the property where the {{convert|22|acre|m2|adj=on}} Pacific Park Brooklyn project is being built. The opponents appealed the New York Supreme Court's ruling,<ref name="appeal">{{Cite web|url=http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=26&id=29432|title=The Court Date is Set for Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn|last=Thompson|first=Ryan|date=2009-07-09|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|accessdate=2009-08-27}}</ref> but lost when the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, upheld the right of the state to use eminent domain for this project.<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/nyregion/25yards.html | work=The New York Times | title=Ruling Lets Atlantic Yards Seize Land | first=Charles V. | last=Bagli | date=2009-11-25}}</ref> A groundbreaking ceremony was held on the site on March 11, 2010,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/ground-broken-on-atlantic-yards-project/|first=Kareem|last=Fahim|work=The New York Times|date=March 11, 2010|title=Ground Broken on Atlantic Yards Project}}</ref> but ringed with protests.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/After-Years-of-Delays-Groundbreaking-Planned-Today-at-Atlantic-Yards-87328432.html|title=Protesters Hold Mock Funeral at Atlantic Yards Groundbreaking|publisher=NBC New York|date=March 11, 2010}}</ref> The Nets began playing in Brooklyn in time for the 2012–13 NBA season.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.barclayscenter.com/events-tickets/event-calendar|title=Event Calendar|first=|last=|website=Barclay's Center}}</ref>
==Board memberships== Ratner serves on a number of boards including the Weill Cornell Medical College, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center<ref>{{cite web |title=Bruce C. Ratner: Philanthropy Profile {{!}} Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |url=https://patronview.com/patrons/bruce-c-ratner |website=Patron View |access-date=1 March 2026 |language=en}}</ref>, [https://www.cshl.edu/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwuJz3BRDTARIsAMg-HxX1MpoVJ8azxecmkC6X1ARLi9g25K6BlseM5IO-llHjhFpGMQIJIfkaAvlWEALw_wcB Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory], [http://langlangfoundation.org/ Lang Lang International Music Foundation], and the Museum of Jewish Heritage as chairman of its trustees board.<ref>{{Cite press release|url=http://www.mjhnyc.org/documents/BruceRatnerNamedChairman-elect.pdf|title=Bruce Ratner Named Chairman-elect of Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust|first1=Betsy|last1=Aldredge|first2=Abby|last2=Spilka|access-date=2013-07-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130626050211/http://www.mjhnyc.org/documents/BruceRatnerNamedChairman-elect.pdf|archive-date=2013-06-26|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was chairman of the board<ref name=Swan/> and now chairman emeritus of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's board of trustees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bam.org/about/leadership/board-of-trustees|title=Board of Trustees|publisher=bam.org}}</ref>
==Center For Early Detection of Cancer== In 2016, Ratner established the Center for Early Detection of Cancer in memory of his brother, Michael Ratner.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abc7ny.com/5749622/|title=Non-profit launches program to bring free mobile lung cancer screenings to New York City|date=12 December 2019}}</ref>
==Honorary degrees== Ratner holds honorary degrees from Brooklyn College, Medgar Evers College, Pratt Institute, and Long Island University.<ref>https://www.lungcancernews.org/2018/02/19/bruce-ratner/ {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref>
==Personal life== Ratner has two daughters: Elizabeth ("Lizzy") Ratner, a senior editor at ''The Nation'' magazine,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/authors/lizzy-ratner/|title = Lizzy Ratner|date = 2 April 2010}}</ref> and Rebecca ("Rebbie") Ratner, a filmmaker.<ref name="nymag"/> Following his first marriage, he was married to plastic surgeon Pamela Lipkin from 2008 to 2017.<ref name=Marsh/> As of 2020, he is married to Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Public Library.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bklynlibrary.org/about/leadership|title=Leadership|date=31 March 2017}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20101012020553/http://www.fcrc.com/ Forest City Ratner Enterprises] *[http://www.nba.com/nets/ Brooklyn Nets official website] *{{IMDb name|1861281|''Battle for Brooklyn''}}
{{s-start}} {{s-sports}} {{s-bef|before=George Steinbrenner}} {{s-ttl|title=New Jersey Nets owner|years=2004–2010}} {{s-aft|after=Mikhail Prokhorov}} {{s-end}}
{{Brooklyn Nets}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratner, Bruce}} Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:American businesspeople in the real estate industry Category:Columbia Law School alumni Category:Harvard College alumni Category:New Jersey Nets owners Category:Brooklyn Nets owners Category:Forest City Realty Trust Category:People from Shaker Heights, Ohio Category:People from the Upper East Side Category:People from Quogue, New York Bruce