ABE POLLIN
Filling a Void Circumstances changed in the 1990s. The Capital Centre was no longer state-of-the-art and Pollin felt it was time to either renovate the facility or relocate the sports teams. Coinciding was the continuing decline of downtown Washington. Cavernous department stores and office buildings sat vacant as merchants went out of business or hightailed it to suburbia, where ample parking and well-to-do clientele awaited. 
Pollin now found a municipal government receptive to helping him achieve his dream of building a topnotch sports-and-entertainment arena within city boundaries. Washington planners were further buoyed by another longtime interest of Pollin's: urban renewal. In this new climate, he secured a deal to construct a privately financed, multi-million-dollar arena on land leased from the city. At the same time, out of concern for the implications of the word "bullet" in a violence-torn city, Pollin changed the name of his basketball team to the Washington Wizards. "I had two goals," Pollin says. "One, to build the best arena in the country, because it's the nation's capital and deserved the best. And secondly, to build the catalyst [to] turn this place around. And so, obviously, we have turned this place around, so our goals were met." Vincent Morris, communications director for former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, says Pollin has been key to the city's ongoing renaissance. "Our city was struggling. The government was nearly bankrupt. We were losing residents," Morris says. "[Today] the city is a lively, livable place. People are moving back. [Pollin] has had as big a hand in reshaping D.C. as anyone in the business community, and not just with the Verizon Center, but with many civic and community activities." Principles of Tikkun Olam Affordable housing, free college educations for the financially strapped, medical research, and the rescue and restoration of a historic synagogue are just some of the humanitarian and philanthropic endeavors supported by Pollin and his wife, Irene. In doing so, Pollin says he is following the example set by his father, Morris, who, upon relocating to "Depression-proof" Washington during the 1930s, established a career as a builder and became a pillar of the city's Jewish community. "My father taught me the more you give, the more you get. My idea is that those of us who are on the giving end, rather than the receiving end, are very lucky. And therefore, it's incumbent on us to help those that are less fortunate than we are," Pollin says. And so it was that in 1988, Pollin and a business associate established a fund through the I Have a Dream Program to cover college tuition for 59 low-income, Washington-area fifth-graders who might otherwise not have gone on to higher educations. "We said if they stayed in school, we would pay for their college, which we did. And many of them went. And our star student was a young lady who became a doctor," Pollin says. Tracy Proctor, project director for I Have a Dream's Washington, D.C., office, says Pollin and his partner's involvement extended well beyond their financial contribution.  "They'd meet for monthly power lunches with the 'dreamers' and ask how they were doing. [Pollin] allowed them to work at his center. They'd help one-on-one with the families. This was a 10-year commitment, [and] most of these kids would not have gone to school without it," Proctor says.
And then there is the area of children's health, where Pollin's impact is felt beyond the nation's capital. Having lost a son and a daughter to heart disease, Pollin is particularly interested in supporting projects whose success means others will be spared similar tragedies. With his wife (pictured at right with Pollin), he established the Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research in 2002, which, under the administration of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, awards $200,000 annually to individuals from around the world who are advancing medical treatments that benefit youngsters. Scientists working in the area of oral rehydration therapy were the first recipients of the Pollin Prize. "What it is, is a package [of salts] that costs three cents, and what it does is it keeps young people from having diarrhea and dying," explains Pollin. He says he saw need for the treatment during a visit to Uganda, when he was chairman of UNICEF in Washington. "It's been estimated that they have saved already 40,000 children's lives with those salts." Restoring a Jewish Landmark Pollin says the principles of Judaism, which include the tikkun olam mission to repair the world, guide him in all of his charitable causes.
Giving back continues to motivate Pollin. His current to-do list includes completing negotiations for land in Washington where he will build 125 affordable housing units. "One of the things that's a problem in this city is that the people that make this city work-the policemen, the firemen, the teachers and postal workers-they can't afford to live [here]," Pollin says. "I'm on a project … that would make it possible for them to either rent or buy at a very low rate." Absent are any plans for retirement or, at the very least, slowing down. "I'm going to continue working because I enjoy my work … I enjoy my basketball team … and all the things that happen here at the Verizon Center, " Pollin says. "Between work and the charities … I'm involved." |
From his Verizon Center offices, overlooking a now-vibrant business and residential district, he reflects on his accomplishments.
President Bush (center) holds a Torah during a tour with synagogue officials of Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, D.C. Abe Pollin was instrumental in rescuing and restoring the building.