Former Prologis chief executive and chairman Jeff Schwartz has passed away aged 54.
Schwartz, who left Prologis in 2010 to co-found Schwartz-Mei Group – a founding principal of major international logistics developer Global Logistic Properties – was born the eldest of four brothers in New Jersey, US.
Educated at Emory University, he worked in the Atlanta office of Arthur Andersen before attending Harvard Business School.
At the age of 29, he co-founded the Krauss Schwartz Company in Tampa, Florida, which became the state’s largest provider of industrial distribution facilities.
In 1994 the firm merged into Denver-based Prologis, with Schwartz tasked with initiating the firm’s expansion into Europe in 1997 as vice-chairman.
In 2002 Schwartz established the Prologis Asia platform in Tokyo, before being named chief executive in 2005 and chairman in 2007.
Today the firm is one of the UK’s leading industrial players and the largest owner, manager and developer of warehouse facilities in the world.
He was also a member of the Emory University Board of Trustees, the Peking University Business School Advisory Board, and the US Real Estate Roundtable of leading US property executives.
Schwartz is survived by his wife, Carole, four children, his daughter-in-law, mother and four brothers.
