John Ingram, a retired development and retailing executive and former chairman of ICSC, has died. He was 76.
Ingram served as ICSC's 42nd chairman for the 2001-02 term while a vice chairman of The Mills Corp., creator of the value-oriented megamall concept. In addition to his role at Mills, Ingram was also CEO of an independent consulting firm that provided advisory services to the retail, real estate and REIT industries. Prior to that, he spent more than two decades as an executive with Marshalls, the off-price apparel chain, which he helped expand from four to 500 stores.
At the time of his election, Ingram was one of only a few ICSC chairmen whose careers had spanned retailing, as opposed to solely development. This, he said at the time, would be an asset. "Most of my life has been on the retail real estate side, but I recognize that the shopping center industry is a partnership of the developer, the retailer and the consumer," he said. "All three components must work together."
As it turned out, Ingram found himself playing an important role a few months into his chairmanship, with the September 11th terrorist attacks on the U.S. Besides their toll on human lives, the attacks threatened to freeze the U.S. economy.
"John projected great calm at a time of widespread concern that a human tragedy would be followed by an economic crisis," said Michael Kercheval, president and CEO of ICSC. "He was absolutely the right man for the moment, and his leadership during that terrible time crowned years of service to our industry and organization."
Ingram served ICSC in a variety of roles, including as a trustee and Executive Committee member, vice president, Eastern Division vice president, chairman of the spring convention (since renamed RECon) and a member of the faculty and speaker at numerous ICSC meetings in North America and abroad.
He was born in Brattleboro, Vt., and lived in Andover, Mass., with his wife, Pat. He is survived by two children and seven grandchildren. Tags: