New Jersey real estate entrepreneur, Leeshan Birney, dies at 78

Leeshan Birney made her first real estate investment in 1981 and her company’s empire, which will now be run by her son and husband, spans 2,500 apartments and about 1 million square feet of commercial and office space.

Stone Mountain Properties owns real estate in New Jersey and Texas — the result of buying during a downturn, particularly in Houston, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Jersey properties among her first purchases were close to Birney’s everyday life; she bought one 133-unit apartment building because it was close to her daughter’s school.

As a Taiwan-born American, Birney became a leader in the Asian-American business community with her involvement in organizations, such as the International Leadership Foundation, throughout her career. She succumbed to cancer at the end of October.

[WSJ] — E.K. Hudson