Real Estate Developer John Zuccotti Dies at 78

Real Estate developer and former New York City deputy mayor, John Zuccotti has passed away at age 78. Zuccotti was the chairman of global operations at Brookfield Properties and had worked for the company for more than 25 years.

He died on Nov. 19, according to Ashley Baldev, a spokeswoman at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, where Zuccotti was of counsel in the New York-based law firm’s real-estate department.

Zuccotti held key leadership positions in commercial real estate and New York City government. He oversaw the World Financial Center development in lower Manhattan from 1990 to 1997 as chief executive officer of the U.S. unit of Olympia & York.

He also served as first deputy mayor under Mayor Abraham Beame from 1975 through 1977. After serving on the city planning commission for two years, Mayor John V. Lindsay appointed him chairman of the panel in 1973.

A public square owned by Brookfield Properties, across from the unit’s 1 Liberty Plaza tower in lower Manhattan, was named for Zuccotti.

“John left an indelible mark on our city,” William C. Rudin, CEO of Rudin Management Co., a family-owned New York property company, said in an e-mailed statement. “He will be remembered as one of New York City’s greats.”

John Eugene Zuccotti was born June 23, 1937, in Manhattan to Angelo and Gemma Zuccotti. He graduated from Princeton University in New Jersey in 1959 and received his law degree from Yale University in New Haven, Conn., in 1963. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army.

Zuccotti and his wife, the former Susan Sessions, had three children and eight grandchildren.