Jonathan Woodner (April 8, 1944 – April 24, 1988) was an American

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

and

road racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

driver. He was the son of Ian Woodner (1903–1990) and Ruth Lyon Woodner of

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Located in the Gold Coast (Connecticut), Gold Coast along the Long Island Sound, it is northeast of New York City and is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connec ...

. Jonathan Woodner, who was born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, ran the company's Washington interests and was president of the Ian Woodner Family Art Collection Foundation.

Biography

Woodner competed in 12 to 15 rally road races annually in Europe. He won the 1972 SCCA National Championship in an

MG Midget The MG Midget is a small two-seater lightweight sports car produced by MG Cars, MG from 1961 to 1979. It revived a name that had been used on earlier models such as the MG M-type, MG D-type, MG J-type and MG T-type. __TOC__ MG Midget MkI (19 ...

. The Woodner Cup, awarded annually since 1989, is named in honor of Woodner. After rallying became dominated by 4WD cars in the '80s, Woodner's skillful driving and capable rally car proved that 2WD could still pose a serious competitive threat. Woodner was involved in car racing before joining his father's real estate company, the Jonathan Woodner Company, in 1974. His father, Ian, had named the Manhattan-based company after his son. The Jonathan Woodner Company is still operating today and is held by Jonathan's sisters, Diane and

Andrea Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that re ...

. The Woodner Apartments, completed in 1951 in Washington, DC with over 1,000 units, is named after Woodner. The Woodner Apartments is DC's largest single-structure apartment building, and was the largest air-conditioned building in the world when it debuted in 1952. Woodner was killed in the crash of his Formula One Shoestring on April 24, 1988; he had only flown the plane a handful of times despite being a licensed pilot for more than twenty years. The wreckage, which was found two miles from the Montgomery County Airpark in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, indicated that the plane went down with a "heavy impact". The

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

investigation indicated that "the pilot improperly performing aerobatics without sufficient altitude to complete a recovery."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodner, Jonathan 1944 births 1988 deaths Accidental deaths in Maryland American rally drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Racing drivers from New York City Sportspeople from Manhattan SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers American businesspeople in real estate Businesspeople from New York City 20th-century American businesspeople Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1988

Biography

See also

References