Tibor Hollo, a Holocaust survivor who became one of the most prominent and influential real estate developers in Miami, passed away at the age of 96.
Hollo was born to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, on July 13, 1927. His family moved to Paris in 1933. In 1941, the Hollo family was arrested during the Nazi occupation of France and was later shipped to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where his mother perished. Hollo and his father were forced to march to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria before being liberated U.S. troops in May 1945.
Hollo returned to Paris after the war ended and earned a degree in architecture from Ecole Polytechnique Institute. He left France for the U.S. and found work in a New York City curtain factory before landing a job as an estimator for a general contractor. He was inspired to begin his own contracting company, which he sold in 1956 to pursue real estate development in Miami.
Hollo’s Florida East Coast Realty had a dramatic impact on Miami’s skyline and commercial environment, with an emphasis on creating commercial and residential high-rises. Among his notable projects were the Omni International Mall, Panorama Tower, the U.S. Justice Department Building, the 55-story residential Opera Tower and the 85-story Panorama Tower.
In 2012, Hollo donated $2.5 million to create the Tibor & Sheila Hollo School of Real Estate at Florida International University. Also in 2012, Hollo shared the secrets of his success in a Florida Trend interview, stating he only worked on one project at a time to focus on the quality of the development and noting the credit for his good fortune belonged to his workforce and a focused business strategy.
“You cannot do it alone,” he said. “You have to have your people on your side. You have to be nice to them if you want to have the same respect from them. Financially, I learned to be very conservative, not to overborrow because there are always ups and downs, and you can bet your bippies the cycles will be coming. It’s important that businesswise, as in your life, you live within your means. You may not get to be the richest man in the world, but you will be the most content person.”
Hollo also acknowledged his bout with cancer and its impact on his appearance. “I had squamous cell and basal cell cancer, and they had 18, 19 operations on my face. Actually, they removed my nose. You love me with it, or you don’t like me with it. It makes no difference. If you love me, you have to love me with it.”
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