Ted Lerner

One of the nation's largest shopping center developers, Theodore "Ted" Lerner is a self-made man. When his father died, young Ted worked day and night to support his mother and siblings. He sold houses on weekends while attending George Washington University Law School. The year after graduation, he started his first real estate company with $250. At age 30, he invested in and helped develop Wheaton Plaza, the first large shopping center to be built in the Washington area. In 1968, he opened Tysons Corner Regional Shopping Center in Northern Virginia, and later developed nearby Tysons 11, a five million-square-foot venture, which became premier shopping center in the land. Over the next few years, he continued to add new properties to his portfolio -- retail complexes, office parks, office buildings, hotels, and thousands of residential units. Among his largest shopping centers are the 30-acre Chelsea Piers in New York City, White Flint in Maryland and the Dulles Center in Virginia. His family business, Lerner Enterprises, is the largest private landowner in the Washington, D.C. area and Ted Lerner is a billionaire many times over. He participates in many charitable activities linked to his family heritage and the passions of his childhood, including major gifts to George Washington University and the United States Holocaust Memorial. Since 2006, he has been the principal partner in the Washington Nationals baseball team. In this audio podcast, recorded at the Academy of Achievement's 1990 Summit in Chicago, Illinois, Ted Lerner discusses his life and career. He urges the Academy's student delegates to take risks and enjoy the challenge if they want to succeed in business, and reminds them that a happy family life is the most important achievement of all.