06-11-2023 HOF - Flipbook - Page 9
Baltimore Sun Media | Sunday, June 11, 2023
T
he Attman name is famous in Baltimore
thanks to Attman’s Delicatessen, a staple
for corned beef sandwiches, jumbo
bologna-topped hot dogs and homemade knishes since 1915.
The Lombard Street deli is where
Leonard Attman had his first job at
10 years old, working the cash register and learning to greet customers in
their native tongue — whether that was
Russian, Italian or Yiddish — at the urging of his father, Attman’s Deli
founder Harry Attman. But Leonard, who goes by “Lennie,” always knew
he wanted to try his hand at something other than the restaurant business.
In the nearly eight decades since that first deli job, Attman, 89, has built
his own local legacy, launching a Baltimore-area real estate development
and management empire, and founding a network of skilled nursing and
rehabilitation centers. He’s a familiar face on prominent boards, including
the Maryland Stadium Authority board of directors and the University
of Maryland Medical System’s shock trauma unit advisory board. He’s a
philanthropist, giving generously to medical, academic and other causes.
And in May, he was awarded an Ellis Island Medal of Honor, celebrating
“inspiring Americans who are selflessly working for the betterment of
our country and its citizens.” Among the distinguished past recipients
are eight U.S. presidents; the CEOs of Apple, Google and Microsoft; and
Nobel Prize laureates.
When you ask him about such measures of success, however, Attman
is quick to credit others, starting with his parents. “You wait a long time
in your lifetime, and if you’re fortunate enough, you’re able to make a
difference for people,” he says.
Age: 89
Hometown: Baltimore
Current residence: Pikesville
Education: Attended University of Maryland, College Park
Career highlights: Founder and board chair of A&G
Management, Attman Properties, and FutureCare
Health and Management
Civic and charitable activities: Past president
of Chizuk Amuno Brotherhood board of trustees;
executive committee for State of Israel Bonds;
former JCC board member; board member for the Signal
13 Foundation for the Baltimore City Police Department;
board of directors for the Reginald F. Lewis Museum,
board of Erin Levitas Foundation
Family members: Married to Phyllis Attman; three
children, nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren
“Business and philanthropy,
those two things go hand in hand.
And that’s the way I was raised by
my mother and my father, watching them, how they lived their
lives.”
Attman’s parents, Harry and
Ida, arrived in the U.S. separately
in the early 20th century: Harry
was from Russia and Ida from
Poland. They met in Baltimore and
married in 1918, and together they
ran both the Lombard Street delicatessen and a small confectionery
and deli on the corner of Baltimore
and Washington streets. Attman
grew up in an apartment above the
East Baltimore shop.
The couple “were visionaries,
but they let us move in our own
direction,” he says. They instilled
an entrepreneurial spirit in their
sons, each of whom went on to run
a business. Seymour, the middle
child, took over operations at the
deli, which today is helmed by
Lennie Attman’s nephew, Marc.
The eldest, Edward, founded
Acme Paper and Supply Company.
It was marriage that led Lennie,
the youngest of the three, to real
estate. Attman met his future wife,
Phyllis Lazinsky, while they were
students at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the two
bonded over hot fudge sundaes
and meals at the Hillel House, and
shared rides back to Baltimore on
the weekends. They married when
Attman was 19 years old.
Attman’s new father-in-law,
Joseph Lazinsky, was in the development business, and he took
the young man under his wing.
Attman’s first project was building the Beverly Hills town house
development in Dundalk, and
from there he was hooked, learning everything he could about the
industry: from engineering and
geography, to how to read and
draw blueprints.
In 1968, he teamed up with
brother-in-law Lowell Glazer
to start A&G Management to
manage apartment communities constructed by their Attman/
Glazer Builders Group. The
company now manages more than
3,500 apartment units, as well as
some commercial and industrial
buildings.
Attman’s office is still located in
the first community he and Glazer
developed together, the Colonial Square Apartments in Glen
Burnie. It’s filled with mementos
of a long career in which he has
crossed paths with notables from
around the state and the country, including presidents, governors from both parties and even
Henry Kissinger, the former U.S.
secretary of state. He also became
involved in the health care industry with the launch of FutureCare
in 1986. The company operates
long-term care and rehabilitation
facilities in the Baltimore metropolitan area as well as Prince
George’s County, totaling more
than 2,000 patient beds.
Attman’s history of civic and
charitable activities is extensive:
He is on the Beth Tfiloh Brotherhood board of trustees, he’s a board
member emeritus at Sinai Hospital
and he serves on the neurosurgery
advisory board at Johns Hopkins
Hospital, among many other positions. He has been involved with
facilities, budget and development committees for LifeBridge
Health, and he and his wife have
donated more than $1.2 million
to the health system, according to
CEO Neil Meltzer.
One of Attman’s proudest
accomplishments was helping to
start the Jemicy School, an Owings
Mills academy for children with
language-based learning differences. When the Attmans’ son
experienced learning difficulties
due to dyslexia, the couple banded
together with other parents to
launch the school, which just
celebrated its 50th anniversary in
April. Jemicy School now enrolls
more than 400 children in the first
through 12th grades.
But Attman doesn’t tend to
publicize these good deeds.
“Over the years, I’ve come to
admire him as much as anyone I
know because he’s one of those
people who does a tremendous
amount very quietly,” says Ben
Rosenberg, chairman of the Rosenberg Martin Greenberg law firm.
“You don’t see Lennie Attman’s
name on things, but he does a
tremendous amount for causes
and people. And he’s one of those
people who doesn’t have to be
asked.”
— Amanda Yeager
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