Abe Pollin, B.B.A. ’45, died Nov. 24. Mr. Pollin was the owner of the Washington Wizards and chairman of the board, chief executive and majority shareholder of Washington Sports and Entertainment. Mr. Pollin was elected as a member of the GW Board of Trustees in 1974 and served for 20 years. He was honored with the University’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1974 and inducted into the School of Business Sports Executive Hall of Fame earlier this year.
“All of us at The George Washington University mourn the loss of trustee emeritus and distinguished alumnus Abe Pollin,” says GW President Steven Knapp. “He was a dedicated Washingtonian who transformed his beloved community. We at GW are proud of his accomplishments, and he will be greatly missed.”
The son of Russian immigrants, Mr. Pollin moved with his family to the Washington area from Philadelphia when he was eight. He graduated from GW in 1945 and went to work for his family’s construction company. In 1957, the Pollins launched their own construction company, which built several large apartment houses and buildings.
He was the longest tenured owner in the National Basketball Association, having purchased the Baltimore Bullets in 1964. Mr. Pollin also brought professional hockey (the Capitals) and women’s basketball (the Mystics) to Washington in 1974 and 1997 respectively.
As majority owners of the Washington Sports & Entertainment Limited Partnership, the Pollins oversaw the operations of the Washington Wizards, Washington/Baltimore Ticketmaster and in-house promoter Musicentre Productions as well as the management of the Verizon Center and the George Mason University Patriot Center.
Mr. Pollin was well known for his philanthropy. He served as the honorable chairman of the Salvation Army’s Leadership Committee for Centers of Hope and co-chair of the Community Capital Campaign for N Street Village in the District. He was also the co-sponsor of the I Have a Dream Foundation, and he personally guaranteed college educations for 55 students. The Pollins re-launched the Abe’s Table program to feed the underserved in the D.C. community and sponsored Gilbert Arenas’ Gilbert Scores for Schools program. In 2008, they donated $1 million to the Society for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.
Mr. Pollin was awarded the Duke Ziebert Capital Achievement Award for his efforts in revitalizing downtown Washington, D.C.; the Distinguished Civilian Service Award from the U.S. Army; the Robert F. Kennedy-Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence; the United Cerebral Palsy Achievement Award; and the Jewish Leadership Award. In 2006, Mr. Pollin was honored for his contributions to sports and his community when the United States Sports Academy presented him with their Distinguished Service Award. In 2007, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty proclaimed Abe Pollin Day in the District of Columbia in honor of Mr. Pollin’s 84th birthday and his contributions to the city.
Mr. Pollin is survived by his wife, Irene; sons, Robert, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, and James, president of the Pollin Group/MedEd at Sea; and two granddaughters.