Tishman Speyer co-founder Robert Tishman dies at 94

[Update 5:10 p.m.] Robert Tishman, co-founder of Tishman Speyer and former president and CEO of Tishman Realty & Construction, has died, according to an announcement from the Real Estate Board of New York. He was 94. The cause of death was not immediately made clear. Tishman’s companies have been involved in some of the city’s highest-profile properties.

Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, described Tishman as a pioneer of modern technology in real estate and a committed New Yorker.

“He was a direct individual who cared about the city, and I always felt that whenever he was making a decision [he would ask himself whether] there was a question of whether it was good for New York,” Spinola said. “Long before the world was thinking green, Bob recognized in order to improve the energy efficiency he [needed to] put a co-generation plant in his building.”

Tishman, who was a REBNY member for 52 years, served as a chairman at the organization.

Tishman Construction is currently serving as project manager for One World Trade Center, and was the construction manager for 510 Madison Avenue, the trophy property that nabbed headlines as commercial firms Macklowe Properties, SL Green Realty and Boston Properties vied for control this summer. The name Tishman Speyer became synonymous with ongoing financial and legal problems at the massive Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village housing complex in recent years, after tenants there won a rent stabilization ruling in October 2009. The 110-building complex was turned over to creditors in January, after Tishman Speyer and partner BlackRock Realty missed a $16.1 million payment on its loan.