Gerald Leissner’s contributions to civil society praised
Property tycoon helped to shape one of the earliest black economic empowerment policies in listed property sector
Gerald Leissner, a property industry titan with more than 50 years’ experience who died on Friday aged 74, has been lauded for his civil contributions. Leissner was heavily involved in civil society, having held prominent positions in various organisations and activities which were aimed at overcoming poverty and inequality, said Taffy Adler, the chair of the Arrowhead Charitable Trust. These included the Urban Foundation, the Central Johannesburg Partnership, the Inner City Housing Upgrading Trust, the Johannesburg Housing Company, the Trust for Urban Housing Finance, the Housing Development Agency, the ApexHi Empowerment Trust and the ApexHi and Arrowhead Charitable Trusts, Foundation 2000 and Yeshiva College. The two trusts have distributed about R100m to various charities. His contribution to the country as a whole was recognised by former President Nelson Mandela in his address to the 37th Annual Congress of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies in August 1993 where he sai...
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