LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Guilford Glazer, a leading Los Angeles philanthropist and real estate developer, died in his Beverly Hills home.

Glazer, 93, died on Dec. 23. He was well known for his support of Israeli universities, including Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and for his friendships with prominent Israeli leaders, including Israeli Prime Ministers David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Glazer was born in 1921 in Knoxville, Tenn. He was one of eight children, and he attributed his love of philanthropy to his parents Ida and Morris, who taught him the value of giving despite the fact that the family was not wealthy. His father ran a small welding company, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported.

After serving in World War II, Glazer took over his father’s welding business and eventually renamed it Glazer Steel Corp.

During the 1950s and ’60s, he developed shopping centers, moving to Los Angeles and most famously opening the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, Calif., in 1971. In 2005, Forbes estimated his net worth at $900 million, of which he donated a large part to philanthropic causes.

Glazer and his wife, Diane Pregerson Glazer, co-founded the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University. Glazer also held an honorary doctorate from TAU and is the founder of American Friends of Tel Aviv University.

He was also the principal supporter of the business school at Ben-Gurion University, known as the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management. He also established the Glazer Institute of Jewish studies in Nanjing, China.

Glazer is survived by his wife, two children, Emerson and Erika, and five grandchildren.