Ben Tobin

Tobin was born to a Jewish family in Russia and immigrated to the United States while still a child. He has one brother, Morris Tobb, and one sister, Bessie Ganek. His family moved to Detroit, Michigan in the 1920s. During the Great Depression, he purchased buildings in Detroit and then expanded to Cleveland, Ohio where he purchased the Hollenden Hotel. In 1945, he moved to Florida and purchased the 900 room Hollywood Beach Hotel in Hollywood, Florida which had been used by the United States Navy as a barracksand developed it into an five-star international resort until it closed in 1971. In 1951, he joined a syndicate with Alfred R. Glancy and Roger L. Stevens and purchased the Empire State Building for $51 million, then the highest price paid for a single building in history; he more than doubled his investment when he sold his interest in the building three years later to a Chicago partnership. Tobin then ventured on his own and founded Ben Tobin Companies Ltd. which developed the Hillcrest Country Club in Hollywood, Florida as well as one million square feet of shopping centers in five states. He also financed numerous Broadway plays including West Side Story.

In 1962, his son, Herbert, joined the company. In 1991, Herbert's son, Jason joined the company. As of 2017, Tobin Properties owns over one and a half million square feet of property throughout the Southeastern US.

Tobin was a major benefactor to Jewish philanthropies: he was a founder and supporter of Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach, Florida, the State of Israel Bond Organizations (who awarded him the Freedom Medal of Israel by the State of Israel Bonds Organization); and was a fellow of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts (where a dormitory bears his name). He was also the founder of the Jewish Federation of South Broward and Temple Beth El in Hollywood, where he was a member. He founded the Ben Tobin Foundation which was a major benefactor to WPBT, Dade County's public television station, and to the Lowe Art Museum in Miami.

He has three children: Herbert Tobin; Steven Tobin; and Benita Tobin (born 1961). He died on June 7, 1996 at his home in Hollywood, Florida.