Los Angeles real estate mogul and philanthropist Fred Sands — whose name became ubiquitous with for-sale signs across California — died Oct. 23 of a sudden stroke while in Boston, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was 77.
At the time of his death, Sands was serving as chairman of Vintage Real Estate, a company that purchased shopping malls in distress and worked to turn them around.
Sands was born in New York City and raised in Boyle Heights, where he attended Roosevelt High School. The son of a cab driver, he studied real estate and business administration at UCLA.
In his 20s, he became interested in buying distressed houses and selling them, and he joined the staff of Coldwell Banker. He found success there before leaving the company and working on his own, forming Fred Sands Realtors. That business — which he sold to Coldwell Banker in 2000 — grew to become the largest independent residential real estate brokerage in California, according to the Times.
The Journal interviewed him this past July after he endowed the Fred Sands Institute of Real Estate at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Although he didn’t graduate college, Sands said he believed in the power of education.
After selling his business, he developed an interest in buying and selling shopping malls, despite widespread opinion that shopping malls are no longer as popular as they once were, he said. He told the Journal that the shopping mall is like the “town square” and can revitalize a neighborhood.
A prolific philanthropist, Sands told the Journal that giving is “in my DNA.” In 2012, he donated $500,000 to the Reform synagogue Wilshire Boulevard Temple, where he was a member and major contributor, as part of the synagogue’s capital campaign to renovate its Koreatown campus. Sands, an avid art collector, was also a supporter and co-founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA).
He said he was a proud Jew who found ways of mixing elements of Judaism with Buddhism. Always a strong supporter of Israel, he became teary-eyed when speaking of the Holocaust in his summer interview with the Journal, during which he described his passion for philanthropy, good friends and rock ’n’roll.
Sands is survived by his wife, Carla; son Jonathan; daughter Alexandra; and brother William.
A funeral service took place Oct. 30 at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Erika J. Glazer Family Campus in Koreatown. The family has requested that donations in Sands' memory be made to MOCA or to Pepperdine's Fred Sands Institute of Real Estate.
