A Singular Couple
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Profi le Special The List When Robert Titus joined Section This week’s list Innovative Solutions, he The seven Rochester ranks the area’s had no idea he’d Business Ethics Awards highest-paid public become CEO. fi nalists are profi led. school offi cials. Page 10 Page 15 Pages 7, 9 VOLUME 30, NUMBER 24 WWW.RBJDAILY.COM SEPTEMBER 12, 2014 FLTG adds Yawman as A singular couple fi r m g r o w s Former Frontier executive to join Victor company By KERRY FELTNER Telecommunications veteran Philip Yawman is joining Finger Lakes Tech- nologies Group Inc. as its senior vice president of business development, effective Monday. Until July 1, Yawman was vice pres- ident and general manager of Fron- tier Communications Corp.’s Greater Rochester operations. The Victor-based FLTG needed to ex- pand its top management to handle the expansion of its business, which now in- cludes 24 markets. The company expects 20 to 30 percent growth, largely because of its fi ber-optic network, which covers more than 2,000 miles. “Our market has grown dramatically in the last couple of years,” said Paul Griswold, president and CEO. “What’s become apparent to us is that as we open Continued on page 6 File photos by Kimberly McKinzie File photos by Awards to put spotlight on Rochester mourns loss of Glazers in crash non-profi t work A former math teacher, Jane Glazer Laurence Glazer helped revitalize built QCI Direct over three decades city with projects others shied from Fifteen individuals and eight organi- zations will be recognized at the 2014 By WILL ASTOR By ANDREA DECKERT Greater Rochester Awards for their con- tributions to the non-profi t sector. Though she was sometimes seen as the quieter half of a lo- Richard LeFrois admits he is not one to get misty-eyed, The event is presented by the Rochester cal power couple, Jane Glazer was a force in her own right. but a tribute his employees gave to the late Laurence Glazer Business Journal and the United Way of Founder, CEO and guiding force of QCI Di- last Saturday was an exception. Greater Rochester Inc. and sponsored by rect, Glazer started the locally based catalog Inside: Some of his workers—off the clock and using Bank of America Corp. and online retailer 30 years ago as a one-woman their own funds—went to the top of the Midtown operation specializing in microwave cookware. ■ Projects to move Tower last weekend and placed more than 20 Microwaves were new then, and people were forward. Page 13 fl ags there, in memory of Glazer, said LeFrois. sometimes confused about what materials were ■ Couple’s philanthropy “That speaks volumes as to what kind of guy Nominations were received in seven suitable for them, she explained in a recent in- lauded. Page 14 Larry was,” said LeFrois, who noted Glazer often categories. Honorees have been selected terview. The fi rm’s name stems from its original would chat with the workers on-site. “He would in six of those categories: designation—Microwave Magic/Quick Cook Inc. stop by and talk to everyone as if they were the president of a Board Leadership: presented to A mother of three, she was working as a middle school bank. There were no airs about Larry.” non-profit board chairmen and chair- math teacher when she started the catalog business. LeFrois is president and CEO of LeFrois Builders and women who have enhanced the mission and Continued on page 40 Continued on page 8 Continued on page 8 > 37 Start the day with news you should know. 6 To sign up: 74470 77330 WEEKLY $2.00 WEEKLY go.rbj.net/morning 0 PAGE 8 ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL / RBJDAILY.COM SEPTEMBER 12, 2014 might provide some retirement income. LARRY GLAZER Over the years, the company grew, as did Continued from page 1 Glazer’s reputation for working to revital- ize downtown. He has been referred to as Developers, the construction manager on Rochester’s patron saint and some have the multimillion Midtown redevelopment dubbed parts of the city “Glazerville” be- project headed by Glazer and his partners. cause of the number of his investments there. Glazer, the CEO and managing partner Buckingham ranked fi rst on the most re- of Rochester-based Buckingham Proper- cent Rochester Business Journal list of real ties LLC, and his wife, Jane Glazer, died estate developers. The company currently last Friday when the private plane they owns and manages more than 60 properties were traveling in to Naples, Fla., crashed comprising over 10 million square feet of off the coast of Jamaica. Jane Glazer was rental space. founder and CEO of QCI Direct, a catalog Major impact and online consumer products company. Larry Glazer was inducted in 2006 into Over the past two years, Glazer had be- the Rochester Business Hall of Fame. Jane come involved in projects in the city to- Glazer was selected in July as part of the taling some $134 million, with more than hall’s 2014 class. Their deaths stunned the 600,000 square feet of offi ce and retail Rochester community. space available, as well as more than 400 While Glazer was known for his busi- residential units. ness acumen, the loss runs deeper for Le- Over the past year his downtown deals Frois. included: “From a business standpoint he will be ■ The 460,000-square-foot Bausch & missed, but I miss him as much, if not Lomb Inc. building, which he bought with more, from a personal standpoint,” said David Flaum of Flaum Management Co. LeFrois, who has done business with and Robert Morgan of Morgan Manage- Glazer for more than a decade. ment LLC for some $15 million. The two met over a business deal. The ■ The Tower at Midtown, a $59 million original deal never came to fruition, but redevelopment project with plans for 179 a friendship developed. The two talked at residential rental units and some 160,000 least a couple of times daily. square feet of commercial space on the In addition to local projects, LeFrois and fi rst three to fi ve fl oors of the 17-story tow- Glazer served as partners on a develop- er and the former plaza area. The project ment site in Lakeland, Fla. Over the years, is a joint venture with Morgan. ■ the two spent time in Florida, even sharing 2006 fi le photo by Kimberly McKinzie The 16-acre Alexander Park North, a house there and traveling to and from Among Larry Glazer’s projects was redevelopment of the former ArtCraft Optical Building, with a $25 million fi rst phase underway for their destination in Glazer’s plane. now Buckingham Commons. retail and residential space. Upon comple- “You do a lot of talking on those three tion within the next fi ve years, Bucking- and one-half hour plane rides,” LeFrois said. lot of mistakes,” Ken said. “But it wasn’t finance in Manhattan before marrying ham plans to have 220 residential units, Larry’s son Ken Glazer said that when about the mistakes, it was about how you Jane Lovenheim, a Brighton girl whose nearly 200,000 square feet of offi ce space, his dad’s phone rang, he would answer. dealt with them.” family owned the commercial printing retail space and a parking garage for up to “Big or small, he would take the call,” said His father taught him to always keep the fi rm Great Lakes Press. 700 cars on the site, near Monroe Avenue Ken, who also said his father had an amazing ball in the air. He would tell his son there In 1970, Glazer went to work for the and Alexander Street. ability to balance all areas of his life. is more work than you can ever get to, so printing company. He ended up as CEO, a ■ The Edge of the Wedge, a $5 million Even with his business success and do the best you can. Pick your priorities, position he held until 1983, when it was sold redevelopment of a 40,000-square-foot standing, Larry Glazer respected other put out the fi res and determine what needs to Case Hoyt Corp. for some $46 million. complex of connected buildings at 739 S. people’s opinions and encouraged them to be done immediately and what can wait, He got his start in real estate in 1970. Clinton Ave. for retail and offi ce use and to express themselves. Ken explained. Local attorney Harold Samloff, an 40 residential lofts. “He was just another guy at the offi ce,” When things did get busy at Bucking- acquaintance and sometime tennis partner, ■ Xerox Square, which Glazer bought Ken said. ham and some wondered how the firm approached him with a deal to buy into last year in a partnership among several Ken is a partner at Buckingham and would meet all its goals, Ken said his dad a fi ve-unit apartment property on Buck- owners. The group purchased the 30-sto- serves as its director of development and would say, “We’ll fi gure it out.” ingham Street. Samloff, who already had ry Xerox building in a $40 million deal. architectural services. Working at the fi rm “And we did,” Ken said. “I think our a partner in a Buckingham Street rental Xerox is the sole tenant. for past fi ve years alongside his dad was a track record shows that.” property, wanted to buy a second build- For Daniel Goldstein, president and “dream come true,” he said. Ken’s brother, Buffalo-area native ing.