Name Edward Linde Role Business person | Died January 10, 2010 | |
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Education Harvard Business School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | ||
Organizations founded Boston Properties | ||
Edward H. Linde (June 22, 1941 – January 10, 2010) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist in Boston, Massachusetts. Alongside Mortimer B. Zuckerman, he co-founded Boston Properties in 1970.
Linde was chairman of the board of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a director of Jobs for Massachusetts, WGBH, and Boston World Partnership, and a trustee at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The west wing of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts is named after him, his wife, and the Linde family in recognition of the more than $25 million they donated to the museum. He also was a major donor to his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Linde arrived in Boston in 1958 as an undergraduate at MIT, where he studied civil engineering. He graduated from Harvard Business School in 1964 and went to work for Cabot, Cabot & Forbes.
He and Zuckerman redeveloped much of East Cambridge into the area now known as Kendall Square, helping create a U.S. technology hub, with Harvard and MIT researchers mixing with firms such as Google, Microsoft, Biogen Idec, and Novartis.
In Boston, Linde was responsible for properties such as the office towers at 28 State Street and One Boston Place. Perhaps his most prominent contribution to the city was the Prudential Center, where he helped transform a disjointed area into a retail mecca.
Forbes ranked him tied as the 840th richest billionaire worldwide in 2007, with a net worth of US$1.1 billion.