PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment
Trust (NYSE: PEI) today announced that Sylvan M. Cohen, who, in 1960, founded
one of the nation's first REIT (real estate investment trust) died on
Saturday, September 8, 2001 at his home in Center City Philadelphia.  He was
87.
    He was Chairman of Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), the
Philadelphia-based REIT he started 41 years ago.  Today, the company, listed
on the New York Stock Exchange, owns and/or manages 26.9 million square feet
of property in 10 states.
    "Sylvan was a visionary in our business," said Ronald Rubin, Chief
Executive Officer of PREIT.  "He anticipated the future of retail real estate
and acted upon his instincts.  We shall miss terribly his wise counsel and
dynamic nature."
    Born in Philadelphia in 1914, Mr. Cohen grew up in West Philadelphia.  He
was four when his father died and by the time he was eleven he was working six
days a week after school and on Saturdays.  He graduated in 1935 from the
University of Pennsylvania, and in 1938 received a J.D. degree from the
University of Pennsylvania Law School.
    Chairman of the Philadelphia law firm Cohen, Shapiro, Polisher, Shiekman
and Cohen until the firm ceased operations in 1995, he then became Of Counsel
to Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP.
    Mr. Cohen was one of the founding members of the International Council of
Shopping Centers, which he served as President and in other capacities
including Member of the Board of Trustees, Member of the Law Conference
Committee, Chairman of the Government Affairs Committee and Chairman of the
Political Action Committee.
    A community leader throughout his life, Mr. Cohen was a former President
of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and a Member of the
Federation Board of Trustees and its Executive Committee.  He was chairman of
the Israel 25th Anniversary Committee for Greater Philadelphia in 1973, and
Co-Chairman of the Jewish Federation 75th Anniversary Committee for 1976.  He
was a former Chairman of the Jewish Federation Building Fund; former General
Chairman of the Federation Allied Jewish Appeal; Chairman of the Planned
Giving & Endowment Committee for the United Way, for which he also served as a
member of the Board of Trustees and former Vice-President.
    His many and varied involvement in the community also included President
of Philadelphia Variety Club Tent 13; Honorary Chairman of the Board and
former President, Philadelphia Chapter, American Friends of Hebrew University;
Member, National Board of Directors and Honorary Governor of Hebrew
University.  He was a member of the Steering Committee, Business Leaders
Organized for the Catholic Schools (BLOCS).  His directorships and
trusteeships included the Police Athletic League of Philadelphia and Variety
Club Camp for Handicapped Children.
    At the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Hospital and Medical
Center Mr. Cohen was a Member of the Joint Conference Committee and Chairman
of the Advisory Board for the Institute on Aging.
    Mr. Cohen, a veteran of World War II, served as a Combat Intelligence
Officer in the Air Corp with a tour of duty in Okinawa.  He was Honorably
Discharged in 1946.
    A member of the University of Pennsylvania Tennis Team during his
undergraduate year, Mr. Cohen remained an avid player throughout his life.
Partnering with him in a doubles game was a coveted invitation, according to
Charles P. Pizzi, President of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
In 1998, he was elected to the Tennis Hall of Fame at Penn.
    Mr. Cohen received numerous awards during his lifetime.  Among those from
Penn were the Alumni Award of Merit, the Law School Distinguished Service
Award and The Wharton Real Estate Center Achievement Award.
    The National Conference of Christians and Jews gave him the Human
Relations Award.  He received the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relation
Honor Award.  The Bicentennial Commission of Pennsylvania Appreciation Award
also honored him.
    Mr. Cohen is survived by his wife of 58 years Alma Orlowitz Cohen, two
sons Stephen Bruce Cohen, Professor of Law at Georgetown University,
Washington, D.C., and Marc Alan Copland, a classical jazz musician, of
Hastings on Hudson, New York, and four grandchildren Samara and Maxwell
Neely-Cohen, D.J. and Allegra Copland.
    Memorial services for Sylvan M. Cohen will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday,
September 11, at The Rittenhouse Hotel, Philadelphia.

    Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, founded in 1960 and one of the
first equity REITs in the U.S., has a primary investment focus on shopping
centers (approximately 10.7 million square feet) and apartment communities
(approximately 7,242 units) located primarily in the eastern United States.
The Company's portfolio currently consists of 45 properties in 10 states. In
addition, there are 6 retail properties under development, which PREIT expects
will add approximately 1.6 million square feet to its portfolio. PREIT is
headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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