Melvin Simon (1926 - 2009) was the founder and longtime Chairman of Simon Property, the largest shopping mall operator in the United States, as well the nation’s largest retail real estate investment trust. The son of an immigrant tailor in Manhattan's garment district, he was drafted into the U.S. Army after graduating from the City College of New York. While stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, he began selling encyclopedias door-to-door to supplement his meager army pay. He stayed in the Midwest after his service to take a $100-a-week job leasing retail space for a...