Real estate exec works for peace
Mich. subsidiary Silverman Co. helps war-ravaged
teens learn leadership skills

By Maureen McDonald, Special to The Detroit News

BINGHAM FARMS – What started in 1999 as a $60 million acquisition of the home-building arm of the Silverman Co.
by Toll Brothers Inc., a giant Pennsylvania-based developer,
became a catalyst for helping teenagers from war-torn
countries learn leadership skills.

"As I got to know Bob Toll, the man behind the company and picked his brains, I became motivated to support the cause he most believed in – Seeds of Peace," said Gilbert "Buzz" Silverman, 49, chairman and CEO of Bingham Farms-based Silverman Co. "We shared a passion for adding value to the world."

World peace and increased real estate profits seldom emerge in the same conversation, but Toll and Silverman found it evolved naturally as their business relationship flourished. Silverman served a year as president of Toll's operations in Michigan. Toll became a professional mentor.

"Over a business discussion Bob told me he loaned his property
in Maine to a great organization for a summer camp.
Bob . . . basically advised me that the future is for the children
by the children," Silverman recalls. "I began to pledge my
personal and company involvement."

Silverman rose to become one of Michigan's leading fund-raisers for Seeds of Peace, an organization founded in 1993 that annually selects 300 teens out of 2,000 applicants to participate in a three-week camp in Maine where youth learn how to distill fear and build negotiation skills.

Last month he held a breakfast meeting for top Michigan business people to introduce Aaron David Miller, the new president of Seeds and former adviser to six secretaries
of state and show portions of a new documentary titled
"SEEDS." "They all wrote checks," Silverman said, smiling.

"Buzz has a strong interest in young people caught in conflict," Miller said, noting both Silverman and his father, Gilbert B. Silverman, are active supporters.

Buzz Silverman shuns any direct reciprocity between charitable funding and making business, noting the company's legacy of real estate excellence and longevity is modeled around the best business practices and community reinvestment. He regards his mentoring relationship with Robert Toll, CEO of Toll Brothers, a more than $4 billion operation, as prosperous individually and business-wise.

"We've expanded our relationship in numerous ways,"
Silverman said.

His firm develops the land for many of the upscale properties where Toll Brothers builds luxury homes, including Century Oaks and Wyndstone in Oakland Township and Northbrooke in Ann Arbor. Freed from its home-building arm, Silverman puts more emphasis on corporate acquisition, and land development income property investment.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/realestate/0501/10/C02-51851.htm