LOS ANGELES (Los Angeles Times)—Los Angeles real estate mogul and prominent contemporary art collector Edward R. Broida has died at the age of 72, after a long struggle with cancer, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Broida, a Cleveland native, founded R & B Development Co. with two partners in 1962. The company quickly became the nation’s third largest builder of multi-housing projects and he retired at the age of 40 in 1972.

Later turning his interest to contemporary art, Broida began his legendary collection in 1978 with the $75,000 purchase of two paintings by Philip Guston. In 1982, he announced a plan to establish a museum in New York’s SoHo gallery district, but abandoned the project in 1986 because of zoning and construction problems.

Broida approached several museums over the years regarding a possible donation of his collection, but none was willing to take the entire collection and display it as he wished. Then last year, as his illness made the matter more urgent, Broida offered the Museum of Modern Art its choice of pieces, except a few special items to be sold or given to his children. The gift, consisting of 174 works by 38 contemporary artists, was announced by the museum last October. It has been estimated at a value of $50 million dollars.

MoMA will show an exhibition of more than 100 of the works beginning May 3. The exhibition is titled “Against the Grain: Contemporary Art from the Edward R. Broida Collection.”

Los Angeles Times: Edward R. Broida, 72; L.A. Real Estate Mogul Collected Contemporary Art