Mortimer Zuckerman, who goes by Mort, is the co-founder and executive chairman of Boston Properties, a real estate investment trust (REIT) with a portfolio that includes the GM Building in New York and the John Hancock Tower in Boston.

Zuckerman, who grew up in Montreal, Canada, also owns the tabloid New York Daily News and newspaper U.S. News and World Report. He is the grandson of a rabbi and the son of a tobacco-and-candy wholesaler.

Zuckerman co-founded Boston Properties in 1970, with Ed Linde, after spending seven years at Boston-based real estate development firm Cabot, Cabot & Forbes. In 2008, Zuckerman acquired the GM Building and three other towers from developer Harry Macklowe, with backing from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Middle Eastern investors, for a total price of $3.95 billion.

Zuckerman enrolled at McGill University when he was 16 years old and received a BA from the school in 1957. He received a BCL, a law degree, from McGill in 1961, and a MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He received a LLM from Harvard Law School in 1962.

-GB