BY JOHN A. DARNELL JR.
      associate editor
      When newly-completed capital improvements at the Southern Park Mall are unveiled to the public during a Community Day celebration set for Sat., Oct. 23, in addition to showcasing the four-acre DeBartolo Commons, the event will memorialize American shopping mall pioneer Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., who built the mall in the late 1960s. Mr. DeBartolo made his home on Southwoods Dr. in Boardman.
      The exhibit will pay tribute to the DeBartolo-York family’s tremendous impact in the Boardman/Youngstown community, and its iconic place in the retail, real estate and professional sports worlds.
      “In addition to DeBartolo Commons, it’s been an honor to collaborate with Mrs. Denise DeBartolo-York and her team on the DeBartolo retrospective, which commemorates Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. and the family’s significant impact through storytelling that transcends decades. The exhibit features artfully executed visuals, original publications and video, hand-selected photos, articles and treasures from the family’s personal archives. We’re excited for our guests and the Boardman and broader Youngstown/Mahoning Valley community to experience their dynasty in a way their story hasn’t been told,” said Jennifer Moretti, senior vice president and chief activation officer of Washington Prime Group (WPG).
      “We placed the exhibit in the heart of the center, adjacent to DeBartolo Commons, to emphasize the importance and pay homage to the DeBartolo-York family’s legacy in the community. Southern Park Mall is a perfect place to memorialize the DeBartolo family,” Moretti added.
      “Washington Prime Group is honored to be affiliated with this great family and we are proud that Southern Park Mall will be a permanent place to share their legacy,” said Lou Conforti, CEO and director of WPG.
      “Lou Conforti and the Washington Prime Group team have brought their vision, drive and resources to solidify Southern Park Mall’s place as the social and entertainment center of Boardman,” said Denise DeBartolo York. “I am grateful my family’s legacy will live on through this exhibit.”
      Edward J. DeBartolo Sr.
      Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. grew-up in Smokey Hollow in Youngstown, Oh., and graduated from South High School in 1927. He never knew his father, Anthony Paonessa, who died before he was born. His mother, Rose, married Michael DeBartolo, a Youngstown contractor, and ‘Mr. D,’ as he became known, took Michael’s last name, and at a very early age, began working for his father’s construction business.
      It was his stepfather, Mr. DeBartolo always said, who taught him humility and how to work long hours.
      Following graduation from high school, Mr. DeBartolo went on to earn a degree in civil engineering from Notre Dame, and then served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. (While in the service, he married his wife, Marie Patricia Montani, on Dec. 18, 1943, where he had been commissioned a lieutenant at Officer’s Candidate School at Ft. Belvior, Va.)
      Legend says that ‘Mr. D’ was a very good poker player, and when he got off the boat returning to America following the World War II, many fellow servicemen owed him plenty of debts from the card games they played while traveling across the ocean.
      Less than enamored with the way city officials conducted business in Youngstown, Mr. D formed his own company, The Edward J. DeBartolo Corp., in 1948 and began building strip plazas away from the city.
      Mr. D foresaw that the development of suburbia after WWII would change shopping habits. Starting with strip malls in the 1950s and then moving on to enclosed malls in the mid-1960s, he built a mall empire that became one of the industry’s top revenue producers.
      Among his early projects was the Greater Boardman Plaza, first opened in the early 1950s. He faced financial hurdles and great skepticism in building the plaza, after all, his critics claimed, who would want to go ‘all the way’ out to the suburbs to shop?
      With a ‘five and dime’ store like W.T. Grant, a grocery store, a drug store, two clothing stores and a hardware store among its tenants, the Boardman Plaza, as well as Mr. D’s company thrived.
      It was the plaza, and its arcade that gave Mr. D the impetus to building enclosed shopping malls.
      During Christmas, Mr. DeBartolo held a community event at the Boardman Plaza arcade. Santa Claus would appear from behind the building, hoisted atop the arcade portion of the plaza by a Boardman Fire Department truck.
      Cookies and hot chocolate would be provided to patrons who gathered inside the arcade during Santa’s arrival, and Mr. DeBartolo began considering construction of an enclosed shopping center, where people could not only shop, but gather for community events, eat and...shop, and not worry about the weather.
      The suburban shopping plaza, or strip centers as they were sometimes called, indeed did change the shopping habits of Americans.
      Within ten years, the Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. moved from its south-side Youngstown headquarters into new general offices at 7620 Market St., at the intersection of Southwoods Dr. in Boardman.
      Among the many projects the firm completed during its first decade, in addition to the Boardman Plaza, were the Mahoning Shopping Plaza on the far west side of Youngstown; North Hills Village Shopping Center, Pittsburgh, Pa., the Hickory Plaza, Sharon, Pa.; Norton Village, Barberton, Oh.; Midway Plaza, Akron, Oh., Loblaw’s Division Office and Warehouse, the Akron-area office of the Ohio Bell Telephone Co., and Century Foods headquarters, on Meridian Rd. in Youngstown.
      At the time, the growth and success of the DeBartolo Corp. also led to growth and success of its suppliers, that locally included Master’s Office Furniture, Roth Brothers Heating and Cooling, The Boardman Supply Co., Antonucci Electric Co. and Parella Construction, to name a few.
      “Continuing changes to the shopping habits have revolutionized retail,” Mr. D. told The Boardman News in 1969, adding “this growth and development gave birth to the mall.”
      While construction was still on-going, Mr. DeBartolo opened the first store at Southern Park to the public in Aug., 1969. That was Sears. Among the earliest businesses at Southern Park were JCPenney, Livingston’s, Gray Drugs, and Lustig’s Shoe Store and Strouus’.
      An added feature was a restaurant perched on top of the mall called The Terrace Room.
      When Southern Park opened, the Boardman-based Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. operated 13 malls with 20 more under construction.
      “Today’s shopping malls are as extravagant as his strip centers were conservative,” one observer said at the time.
      About two decades later, the DeBartolo Corp. developments stretched across America, as a company press release said “Nearly one-half billion people were serviced by DeBartolo entities.”
      In 1986 alone, The Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. cited its involvement in projects in California, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Texas in creating over 5,500 new jobs with the new development, or renovation work.
      A year later, The Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. owned and/or managed more than 100 shopping and entertainment sites in America, (including what was once the world’s largest shopping mall, Randall Park, near Cleveland), overseeing more than 100 million square-feet of retail space in its portfolio.
      As Mr. DeBartolo observed at the time, “We strive to set the standards of excellence in the retail industry by which all other are judged. Each project represents a long-term commitment to service the needs of our shoppers, as well as tenants.”
      Enjoying success in retail and real estate also brought Mr. D into the world of sports.
      In 1977, he led the purchase of majority stock in the San Francisco 49ers and under his son, Ed Jr., the Niners became known as “The Team of the 80s,” and were the first NFL team to win five Super Bowl titles.
      The Niners are now owned and operated by his daughter, Denise, and her husband Dr. John York, and their children, Jed, Jenna and Mara.
      From 1959-1999 Thistledown Race Track was operated by the DeBartolo Corp. In 1999, the track was sold to Magna Entertainment Corp.
      Mr. D also developed Remington Downs in Oklahoma. When first opened, it was the first horse racing track in America where horses ran on an artificial dirt track.
      Mr. D and his family also owned the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League from February, 1977 until selling it to an ownership group led by Howard Baldwin in November, 1991. His team would win the Stanley Cup in 1991. He name was engraved onto the Stanley Cup along with his daughter, Denise DeBartolo York, who served as president of the hockey team.
      Mr. D said at a rally after the first Stanley Cup win that the occasion was “possibly the happiest moment of my life.”
      He also owned the soccer team Pittsburgh Spirit from 1978 until 1986.
      Success in business and sports also led to a major role in philanthropy.
      For example, Mr. D played a major role in renovations at his church, St. Charles, in Boardman.
      He was a major contributor to Youngstown State University and in 1984 was the recipient of the university’s Distinguished Citizen Award.
      In May, 1989, Mr. D announced what was then the largest gift ever in higher education, $33 million, to the University of Notre Dame that created a $16 million Edward J. DeBartolo classroom facility, and a $14 million Marie P. DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts, in honor of his wife.
      More legendary, on the local level, are Mr. D’s contributions that more than often went unnoticed, like support for the Mill Creek Children’s Center. Typical was a gift to Austintown Little League. When approached to help support development of baseball fields, Mr. D graciously offered to pay for everything.
      Similarly, when Boardman Little League had some safety and funding issues, his son-in-law, John York, provided a gift to help make the Fields of Dreams on McClurg Rd. as safe as possible.
      Mr. D’s daughter, Denise, has continued a tradition begun by her father, by memorializing his interest in higher education with the annual Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. Memorial Scholarships. Over more than two decades, more than $1.5 million in college scholarships have been awarded.
      When Boardman High School’s Center for the Performing Arts was dedicated at the turn of the century, it was a major contribution from Denise DeBartolo-York that provided funding for special concert given by BHS graduate Maureen McGovern that celebrated the opening of the facility. Among many local, charitable causes Denise supports are the Rescue Mission, Akron Children’s Hospital/Mahoning Valley, Beatitude House, Youngstown Neighborhood Development and Angels for Animals,
      Now living in Tampa, Fla, Mr. D’s son Ed Jr., and his wife, Candy, recently contributed $2.5 million to Tampa General Hospital in its fight to treat COVID-19 coronavirus patients.
      Locally, Cardinal Mooney High School on Erie St. in Youngstown has been remodeled thanks to gifts of $5 million each from Denise and Ed Jr.
      “Through my friendship with the DeBartolo-York family, I can tell you that they are defined by their generosity, loyalty and commitment to their community,” WPG CEO Conforti said.
      The legend begun through the work-ethic and unstoppable will and determination of Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. will now be on permanent display at the Southern Park Mall in his hometown of Boardman, Ohio.
      Mr. D died Dec. 19, 1994.
      Among the many accolades given to Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. was the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the nation’s highest civilian award) in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan in recognition of his “significant endeavors and contributions” in the United States.
      Mr. D would frequently say “Foresight and imagination are the keys...to the future, hard work and determination will open the door.”
     
      PICTURED: Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. 1909-1994
      “I took chances a million miles out. I no
      longer have qualms taking chances.”
      The above quotation graces the owner’s suite
      at Levi Stadium in San Jose, Calif.