Philanthropic 50: Ted and Annette Lerner

“If you live, work or play in the greater Washington area, chances are you are in a Lerner building,” stated Bisnow magazine to introduce a recent interview with real estate developer Theodore Lerner, president of Lerner Enterprises and head of the family that includes son Mark D. Lerner and daughters Marla Lerner Tanenbaum and Debra Lerner Cohen. At 92, Ted Lerner is still the managing principal owner of the company that developed Wheaton Plaza, Washington Square, much of Tysons Corner and the Washington Nationals baseball team. The main source of the Lerners’ philanthropy is the Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Foundation. Its recent activity has included $5 million for a new fitness and recreation building at George Washington University, alma mater of Ted Lerner, his son and one of his daughters; Children’s National Hospital; the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; and Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, recipient of a $10 million gift for a new stadium. Lerner Enterprises is on hold to build a new headquarters for the F.B.I. once Congress funds it.