Simon Konover, one of Connecticut’s leading real estate developers and philanthropists, died Tuesday in Delray Beach, Fla. He was 93.
Konover founded, and for decades ran, The Simon Konover Co., based in West Hartford. SKC and Konover South remain active and are run, respectively, by his daughter, Jane Coppa, and grandson David Coppa
His company and related ventures built, managed or invested in shopping centers, apartments, office and other commercial buildings throughout Connecticut and the East Coast.
Konover was honored with a Hartford Business Journal Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 when he was 88 and still going to the office every day. At the time he said the key to his business success in the real estate business was diversification.
Konover was a poster child for the “American Dream” — and was happy to embrace that notion. He was a penniless young Jewish boy who escaped the Nazi horrors in Poland and Russia — and made it to Ellis Island, via Cuba. Konover has little patience for negativity about the importance of America as a symbol of freedom and opportunity. “The people who are born here take it for granted,” he said at the time.
Konover was a major donor to causes related to Israel and Jewish charity and education; secular higher education; and other projects as well. He was a champion of non-profit and low-and moderate-income housing in the region — and he was a key player in the creation of the late Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall camp in Ashford.Â
A funeral service will begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, October 22, 2015 at The Gardens, 4103 N. Military Trail, Boca Raton, FL 33431. A memorial service will be held on a future date in West Hartford, CT.
