South Florida developer Donald Soffer, a powerful figure who founded Aventura, died on Sunday at the age of 92, following a brief illness.
Soffer, born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania on Sept. 20, 1932, bought 785 acres of mostly swampland, which became Aventura, in the late 1960s with partner Arthur G. Cohen. The rest is history.
Soffer founded Aventura-based Turnberry Associates, now known as Turnberry. The company has developed condos, hotels, retail and more, including Aventura Mall and the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa.
Turnberry was led by two of Soffer’s children, Jackie and Jeffrey Soffer, as co-CEOs until they split in 2019. Jackie is now chairman and CEO of Turnberry. The company’s projects include the co-development of SoLé Mia, a master-planned community in North Miami with LeFrak, as well as the planned Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel.
Jeffrey Soffer leads Fontainebleau Development, which owns the iconic Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach. The company developed Turnberry Ocean Club, a luxury condo tower in Sunny Isles Beach. His firm also opened the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas in late 2023.
Donald Soffer is survived by his wife, Michele Soffer, and six adult children, including Jackie Soffer, who is married to developer Craig Robins; Jeffrey Soffer; Brooke Soffer; Rock Soffer; Marsha Soffer Rappoport; and Abigail Soffer; 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He is preceded in death by his daughter, Jill, who died in 2023.
Donald Soffer attended Brandeis University on a football scholarship. He turned down an offer to play for the San Francisco 49ers, and instead followed in his father’s footsteps as a real estate developer. In 1967, he and Cohen paid $6 million for the swampland that became Aventura. The town’s high school, which opened in 2019, is named after Soffer.
Soffer’s philanthropy included a $15 million gift to Brandeis in 2008 and a $25 million donation to the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine from the Soffer Family Foundation in 2015.
The Soffer family’s fortune is estimated to be worth $2.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Soffer is part of a bygone generation of developers who reshaped South Florida’s skyline, including Tibor Hollo and Gerald Robins. Hollo, founder of Florida East Coast Realty, died last year at 96, while Robins died in 2022 at 86 years old.
