James Rouse

(Wikipedia) - James Wilson Rouse (April 26, 1914 - April 9, 1996) was a pioneering American real estate developer, civic activist, and later, free enterprise-based philanthropist.
He was born in Easton, Maryland. He attended college and law school during the Great Depression; after graduating in 1937 he worked for the Federal Housing Administration and in 1939 he was a partner at a mortgage banking firm called the "Moss-Rouse Company", which would eventually become the Rouse Company.
After World War II he became involved in Baltimore, Maryland's efforts to rehabilitate its slums. This led to his participation in Dwight D. Eisenhower's National Housing Task Force starting in 1953. He introduced (or at least helped popularize) the term "urban renewal" to describe the series of recommendations made by that task force.
In 1958, Rouse built Harundale Mall in Glen Burnie, Maryland, the first enclosed shopping center east of the Mississippi River. Continued

Photo by Jeff Kubina