{"id":1004165015,"date":"2017-01-25T02:46:59","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T10:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004165015"},"modified":"2022-12-08T11:30:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T19:30:27","slug":"george-smith-partners-david-rifkind-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/george-smith-partners-david-rifkind-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"George Smith Partners\u2019 David Rifkind Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Los Angeles<\/strong>\u2014David Rifkind, co-founding principal of Los Angeles-based investment bank George Smith Partners, passed away on Monday, Jan. 23, at age 51. He succumbed to a rare, rapidly degenerative and incurable neurological disease, according to a George Smith Partners spokesperson.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1004165018\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2017\/01\/David-Rifkind.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1004165018\" data-attachment-id=\"1004165018\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/george-smith-partners-david-rifkind-dies\/david-rifkind-3\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2017\/01\/David-Rifkind.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"766,574\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"David Rifkind\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;David Rifkind&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;David Rifkind&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2017\/01\/David-Rifkind.jpg?w=766\" class=\"wp-image-1004165018 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2017\/01\/David-Rifkind.jpg\" alt=\"David Rifkind\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2017\/01\/David-Rifkind.jpg 766w, https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2017\/01\/David-Rifkind.jpg?resize=300,225 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1004165018\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Rifkind<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Rifkind grew up in Encino, where he attended elementary school, Portola Junior High and Birmingham High School. He graduated from USC in 1987 with bachelor&#8217;s degree in history and international relations.<\/p>\n<p>As a treasured community leader, Rifkind served as chair of the board of Jews for Judaism, a board member of the Ziegler School at AJU and Ilan Ramon Day School. He was also active in the Real Estate Cabinet of the Jewish Federation and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), among numerous other organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Rifkind got his start in the business very early, buying his first building at the age of 22. He went on to own and manage multiple properties. In 1992, Rifkind and four other real estate professionals launched George Smith Partners. Since its inception, the company has arranged more than\u00a0$45 billion in financing for numerous properties across the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Rifkind was also the go-to person for real estate journalists and offered insights whenever he was asked to comment on major events that had an impact on the industry. Speaking to a reporter for a <em>Commercial Property Executive<\/em>\u00a0article on the importance of philanthropy and how his team members are expected to be leaders in community service and charity, he once said: \u201cSuccess in philanthropy is directly related to success in leadership in business. It\u2019s kind of a \u2018duh\u2019 that the two of them are so closely related.\u201d\u00a0 And when talking about corporate leadership and the dedication to philanthropy\u2014both setting the example at George Smith Partners\u2014he made it clear that the energy that drives community service comes from the ground up, rather than from the top down. \u201cWe don\u2019t dictate how you do it,\u201d said Rifkind. \u201cWe just care that you\u2019re passionate about social activism and you do something about it &#8230; it\u2019s an absolute expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Most recently, he talked to <em>Commercial Property Executive<\/em> about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/the-brexit-impact-whats-ahead-for-cre\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Brexit impact on commercial real estate<\/a> and shed light on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/executive-qa-how-trump-win-may-impact-cre-investment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the results of the 2016 presidential election<\/a> and their possible effects on the capital markets, regulations and foreign investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Co-founder and mentor to the firm\u2019s younger members, Rifkind was successful in his career as an investor, broker and lender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":260,"featured_media":1004165018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21808,1594,21742,21744,15],"tags":[33621,33306],"class_list":["post-1004165015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-los-angeles","category-latest","category-people","category-west","tag-david-rifkind","tag-george-smith-partners"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v24.6) - 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