Developer left a mark on L.A.
DAVID WILSTEIN
David Wilstein, founder of a prominent Los Angeles development firm, died Sunday. He was 89.
After establishing Realtech Construction Co. in 1976, Wilstein oversaw more than 100 projects, including high-rise office towers, medical buildings, apartments, hotels and shopping centers.
Wilstein’s daughter, Denise Margolin, remembers her father always with a phone in hand. He was the first one to work and the last one home.
“He always worked, he was married to his work,” Margolin said. “He was always doing a deal, always involved with something. He worked so, so hard.”
The Pittsburgh native, who had a bachelor’s degree in engineering, came to California in the 1950s and got a job with the state helping design freeways. He met his wife, Susan, two weeks after moving to L.A. Margolin said it was love at first sight, and the two were rarely apart in their more than 60 years of marriage.
Wilstein had humble beginnings in construction.
To earn extra cash in the 1950s, Wilstein joined his father and brother in building a fence. That led to fixing the roof of a house, which led to the first of several remodeling jobs, Wilstein told The Times in 2014.
His career in development took off after a man for whom he had remodeled a home returned from Cuba with money to invest. Wilstein said he offered to build the man six apartment units that could be sold for a 6% to 7% return.
Wilstein then started building properties for other investors. He eventually grew the company internationally, developing buildings in Japan, Thailand, Turkey and China.
Wilstein was responsible for some prominent L.A. office buildings, including the 12-story Roar building on Wilshire Boulevard at Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills and the 25-story Wells Fargo Center at Wilshire and San Vicente boulevards.
Wilstein was active in the Jewish community, Margolin said. He served on the board of directors of CedarsSinai Medical Center, Brandeis-Bardin Institute and the American Friends of the Hebrew University. He was a past trustee of the California State University system.
“He was a great, great man, and he cared about everybody else before himself,” Margolin said. “He really put himself last.”
Wilstein, a resident of Beverly Hills, died of natural causes. He is survived by his wife and daughter. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Thursday at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City.