Lerner was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in Northwest Washington D.C., the eldest of three children born to Mayer, a 1921 emigrant from Palestine, and Ethel, who emigrated from Lithuania. He attended Raymond Elementary School, McFarland Junior High, and graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1944. He then served with the U.S. Army as a typist during the latter part of World War II. He then went on to attend George Washington University via the G.I. Bill where he received first an Associate of Arts and then in 1949, he graduated with a L.L.B. from The George Washington University Law School. While in law school, he sold homes on the weekends which piqued his interest in real estate.
Career
In 1952, he borrowed $250 from his wife and founded the real estate company Lerner Enterprises in Rockville, Maryland. It operates primarily throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolis. Lerner Enterprises is the largest private real estate developer in the Washington, D.C. region. Among the Lerner Enterprises ventures is a partnership in Chelsea Piers, a sports and entertainment complex on the Hudson River in New York City; the Tysons II commercial development; shopping centers including White Flint and Dulles Town Center; and thousands of homes and apartments, along with numerous office buildings. Lerner also played a role in developing other shopping centers in the Washington area, including Tysons Corner Center and Wheaton Plaza. The headquarters of Lerner Enterprises in Rockville, MD was the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certified multi-tenant commercial building in the D.C. area and has been the recipient of multiple design and environmental awards.
Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals franchise was formerly owned and operated by Major League Baseball from February 15, 2002, until the official transfer of ownership on July 24, 2006. The Lerner Family is the majority owner of the franchise, controlling over 90% of the shares. Lerner retired as managing principal owner in 2018, ceding the role to his son, Mark D. Lerner.
The Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Foundation provides support to many organizations, including: Food and Friends; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Shady Grove Adventist Hospital; Hadley's Park; the Weizmann Institute of Science; the Scleroderma Foundation of Greater Washington; YouthAids; Junior Achievement of the Greater Washington Area; the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School; and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, among many others. Ted and his wife Annette are founding members of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The American Academy of Achievement awarded Ted Lerner the Golden Plate Award of Excellence in 1990. The campus of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Maryland is named in his and his wife's honor after a multimillion-dollar donation to the school. The lunch room in the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy was donated by the Lerner Family. The family has also donated the Lerner Family Health and Wellness Center and Theodore Lerner Hall at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Along with the Lerner Center at Hebrew University in Israel. The family donated the theater at Imagination Stage in Bethesda, MD. Notable achievements include:
1990 American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award of Excellence
On June 17, 1951, he married Annette M. Lerner. They have three children: Mark D. Lerner, Debra Lerner Cohen and Marla Lerner Tanenbaum. Ted Lerner has nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren. His daughter, Marla Lerner Tanenbaum, is chair of The Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Foundation and chair of the Washington Nationals Philanthropies and the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy. The family are the sole owners and heirs of Lerner Enterprises. They own the vast majority of the Washington Nationals.
