The Ghermezian family is a Canadian business family of

Iranian Jewish Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor s ...

origin. The Ghermezians are best known for building North America's three largest shopping malls:

West Edmonton Mall West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is a shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, that is owned, managed, and operated by Triple Five Group. It is the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, followed by Metrotown Mall in B ...

Mall of America Mall of America (MOA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway ...

, and American Dream. The family has been based in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

since 1964.

History

The Ghermezian family originates from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, where they dealt in rugs for several generations. In 1895, Elijah Ghermezian founded the family business. Sometime before World War II, the family moved to

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. Jacob Ghermezian (1902 – 3 January 2000), was born and grew up in Iran. He became one of the wealthiest businessmen in the country, and during 1943, he hosted U.S. President

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, U.K. Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, and Soviet leader

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

in his apartment during the critical

Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943, after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. It was held in the Soviet Union's embassy i ...

, where the three world leaders discussed the final stages of World War II and planned their path to victory. In the early 1950s, Jacob moved his family to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

where he opened Ghermezian Bros. on

Sherbrooke Street Sherbrooke Street (officially in french: rue Sherbrooke) is a major east–west artery and at in length, is the second longest street on the Island of Montreal. The street begins in the town of Montreal West and ends on the extreme tip of t ...

. By the mid 1960s, the business included 16 stores across North America, and was the largest importer of oriental rugs to the United States. In 1964, the family moved west and settled in

, hoping to capitalise on the province's booming oil economy. In 1967, they incorporated as Ghermez Developments Ltd., which in 1973 became Triple Five Corp. Ltd. The family acquired vast quantities of farm land surrounding Edmonton in the hope of finding oil, but their search proved unsuccessful. However, in the 1970s the province set out to build a

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

around Edmonton. Through this project, the Ghermezians made a fortune selling farm land to the government. The four sons, Eskandar, Nader, Raphael and Bahman, grew the family rug business into a large real estate and construction company.The Ghermezians build the West Edmonton Mall – CBC Archives
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Estate

The family's estates include the

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, and the

Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...

, along with many other businesses. In 2011, the family's

Triple Five Group Triple Five Group is a conglomerate based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which specializes in shopping centres, entertainment complexes, hotels, and banks, along with 3 indoor amusement parks. The company owns and operates two of North America's ...

acquired the troubled Xanadu Meadowlands project in New Jersey, which they renamed to American Dream. The mall opened on October 25, 2019. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mall attendance has been low and due the leveraged position, it may lead to secured creditors taking up to 49% of the equity in their other mega-malls.

Family members

* Elijah Ghermezian ** Yacoub (Jacob) Moshe Ghermezian (1902 – 2000), m. Nenehjan (Myriam) *** Eskandar Ghermezian **** David Ghermezian **** Don Ghermezian **** Syd Ghermezian *** Raphael Ghermezian *** Nader Ghermezian *** Bahman Ghermezian **** Mark Ghermezian **** Paul Ghermezian {{Tree list/end

References

Ghermezian Iranian billionaires Iranian Jews Ghermezian Iranian emigrants to Canada Businesspeople from Edmonton Canadian people of Iranian-Jewish descent Ghermezian Jewish-Canadian families