Background
Taubman was born in Pontiac, Michigan, to Jewish immigrants Philip and Fannie Taubman, who came to the United States from Bialystok, in northeastern Poland. His mother was his father's second cousin. Philip took a job with the Wilson Foundry Company in Iowa, transferred to Pontiac in 1920, became a fruit farmer, then began developing commercial real estate and custom homes.
Taubman's parents lost everything in the Depression of the 1930s, and Taubman at age 9 had to find work to help support the family. He has said of that time in his life: "I really wanted to make some money."
Read more about this topic: A. Alfred Taubman
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