Larry Glazer understood Rochester

Larry Glazer understood Rochester.

He knew Rochester, certainly, as do many people. He was a businessman in Rochester nearly all of his working life, after all.

But he was the sort of man, thoughtful and, within that thoughtfulness, a risk taker, who wanted to understand a place as much as know it. And he understood Rochester.

Mr. Glazer understood that Rochester was an accumulation of unfinished parts, not a finished product. The city he saw was a bit on the edge, struggling against poverty but embellished by a sort of never-say-die business community.

Downtown and urban neighborhoods were teetering but much of the city formed an attractive mosaic of middle-class neighborhoods. University life was vibrant but the graduates didn't stay. The appeal of the city was hidden, but genuine.

And into this Mr. Glazer moved. Not once but many times. "I'm all in," he would say when asked how he saw his role in the Midtown Rising project at Main Street and South Clinton Avenue.

On the eve of a memorial service for Larry and Jane Glazer, both killed Sept. 5 when their plane crashed into the ocean off Jamaica, friends and business colleagues recalled Mr. Glazer as a smart and meticulous businessman who was humble and sensible and companionable and blessed with strength and humor in ample measures.

Mr. Glazer and his commercial real estate company, Buckingham Properties, ventured where others might not go, taking along not just hope but vision and competence.

"He was a visionary but he was also careful," said Ken Glazer, one of the Glazers' sons and a partner in Buckingham Properties. "He wouldn't do anything unless it made sense for the business."

Mr. Glazer had a middle-class upbringing in North Buffalo. He was no naif in business; he earned a master's in business administration from Columbia University.

He was in finance for a while but in the 1970s worked as an executive with Great Lakes Press in Rochester, the business run by his wife's family. Mr. Glazer was successful in that role but in the 1980s he came to understand something about the printing business. It was changing in a potentially expensive way.

"Even then Larry saw that printing was going digital and that it would be expensive to retool the business," said Harold Samloff, an early partner with Mr. Glazer in real estate.

Mr. Glazer was in his mid-20s when he made a career shift of the kind many wouldn't attempt. He and Samloff ventured into real estate, buying and renovating properties, doing what they could on seller money, since the banks were not much of an option for real estate entrepreneurs.

"Larry was very good at assessing a property," Samloff said. "He could see quickly how a building could be designed or changed to generate income. He saw the potential in things more readily than other people."

The two made their first real estate purchases on Buckingham Street, the start that became the name. Today, Mr. Glazer's holdings, through Buckingham Properties and other businesses, include at least 2 million square feet in all manner of real estate, from warehouses to Victorian houses and lofts in refurbished factories.

Mr. Glazer is perhaps best known for his leading role in the Midtown redevelopment. But his shining light, the zenith of his career, perhaps, was the redevelopment of the former Genesee Hospital campus on Alexander Street in the city.

The hospital's closing shocked the community. There were fears that the hospital, once abandoned, would become a rundown symbol of Rochester's decline. Buckingham, and Mr. Glazer, stepped into the breach.

"It was a risk, for sure," Samloff said. "Larry had bought the building on spec. He knew the corner (of Monroe Avenue and Alexander Street) was a good one, potentially. But he took a chance on the corner building."

Eventually, Earthlink came into the new building, sold on that location by Mr. Glazer and his company. Associates said that, along with his vision as a developer and insights as a businessman, he was an excellent salesman.

More than that, he was the kind of landlord who didn't slip rent increase demands under the door and dash for cover. He talked problems through with his tenants. He compromised. He understood.

"Larry was a true gentleman," said Jim Froehler, who with his wife, Carla, owns People's Pottery in Pittsford. Mr. Glazer was his landlord. "He'd take time with you. He'd explain what he could do and what he couldn't.

"He didn't vanish when the faucets in the rent rooms wouldn't work. He took care of it right away."

Mr. Glazer's equal as a force for Rochester may be out there somewhere.

Then again, maybe not. Visionary developers with courage and capital —and a human touch — are hard to find.

TTOBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/tobin3