Ronald Berman, 86, founder of R. Berman Development, died Friday, August 31 at Princeton Medical Center after a long illness.
An early champion of mixed-use urban renewal, many of his efforts focused on his home town of Trenton. Berman approached his real estate career with a focus on bringing people together: “We like to be good neighbors by enhancing a community’s human and cultural spirit.” In addition to developing several downtown Trenton office buildings, Berman redeveloped the historic Roebling wire rope complex, which includes a 10,000 seat sports and entertainment arena now known as the CURE Insurance arena as well as the Roebling Shopping Center and other commercial properties. In 1999, Berman acquired Trenton’s first professional hockey franchise, the Trenton Titans, winning the ECHL championship in 2005. The Berman family later sold the team to the New Jersey Devils.
An attorney since the early 1960s, Berman received his undergraduate and law degrees from Rutgers, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Rutgers Law Review and was awarded a Ford Fellowship at Harvard Law School. Early in his career, Berman served as Assistant Commissioner of Public Transportation for the State of New Jersey and Urban Renewal Attorney for the City of Trenton. He was a founding partner of the law firm Warren Goldberg and Berman.
Before starting R. Berman Development, Berman co-founded DKM Realty with the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp. of New York, developing commercial properties throughout the country. Among his many civic endeavors and honors, Berman served as a trustee of the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Foundation, was a founding trustee of the Garfield Foundation, was named Developer of the Year by the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Rider University. He was actively involved throughout his life with many Jewish philanthropies.
A resident of Princeton, Berman was the son of the late Betty and Leon Berman. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Marie, three sons and their spouses, Michael and Victoria, Geoffrey and Joanne, Daniel and Karren, as well as seven loving grandchildren, Zachary, Jeremy, Alexander, Harrison, Charles, Matthew and Elisabeth.
Funeral services were Monday, September 3, at Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel, 1534 Pennington Road, Ewing Township. Burial followed at Brith Sholom Cemetery, Pitman Avenue, Hamilton Township. The family respectfully requests memorial contributions to a charity of the donor’s choice.
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