Milton Cooper (born around 1928 in New York) is an American billionaire real estate executive and pioneering figure in the real estate investment trust (REIT) industry, widely credited as the founding father of the modern REIT era. A graduate of The City College of New York (now Baruch College) in 1949 and Brooklyn Law School (Juris Doctor around 1952), he briefly practiced litigation before pivoting to real estate in 1952, starting a company on Long Island building garden apartments and drawn to its entrepreneurial opportunities. In the late 1950s, he partnered with Martin S. Kimmel, a commercial-construction craftsman, to build their first neighborhood center, Coral Way Plaza in Miami, in 1958. In 1966, they formally merged their retail assets with other investors to create Kimco Development Corporation (derived from Kimmel + Cooper), with its predecessor entity formed around 1958-1966 through a merger of retail assets. Headquartered in Jericho, New York, Kimco Realty Corporation became North America's largest publicly traded owner and operator of open-air, grocery-anchored, neighborhood, community, and mixed-use shopping centers. Cooper served as President and CEO, pioneering a strategy of acquiring undervalued properties rather than speculative ground-up development, handling construction, financing, legal, leasing, and maintenance in-house, and emphasizing value-add strategies and long-term personal relationships over mere business ties. In November 1991, he led Kimco's landmark IPO—the first successful equity REIT IPO—raising approximately $120–150 million and 'democratizing' the REIT industry by opening commercial real estate investment to the public stock market. He built Kimco through strategic acquisitions, such as a majority stake in over 300 Montgomery Ward stores in 2001, which were retenanted with retailers like Target and Kohl's. Cooper served as Chairman of the Board and CEO from the 1991 IPO until December 2009, when David B. Henry succeeded him as CEO; he then served as Executive Chairman from 2009 until April 2025, when he transitioned to Chairman Emeritus in an advisory capacity, remaining actively involved through daily calls and management decisions. He has influenced the retail real estate sector for over 70 years. Beyond Kimco, Cooper served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) and received NAREIT's Industry Leadership Award in 1999. He held long-standing board positions at Getty Realty Corp. (director since 1971, chair of the Compensation Committee), Blue Ridge Real Estate Company (director 1983–2012), MassMutual Corporate Investors, and MassMutual Participation Investors. In 2015, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Baruch College. In 2023, Kimco and the ICSC Foundation launched the Milton Cooper Trailblazer in Real Estate Award, providing annual scholarships to students pursuing careers in retail real estate. As of early 2026, at age 97, Cooper holds approximately 10.7 million shares of Kimco (1.58%) and 1.4 million shares of Getty Realty (2.36%), with an estimated net worth between $254 million (based on public holdings) and over $1 billion (including estimated private wealth). His grandson Ross Cooper joined Kimco in 2006 and now serves as President, Chief Investment Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors. Cooper is a major philanthropist through the Milton Cooper Family Foundation (assets ~$12.5 million) and his trust, with significant contributions to Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Committee, American Israel Education Foundation, Friends of Israel Defense Forces, Center for Jewish History, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, as well as cultural institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and American Museum of Natural History.