Nelson C Rising

Mr. Rising received his B.A. in Economics with honors from UCLA in 1963 and his Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law in 1967, where he was Order of the Coif and served as Managing Editor of the UCLA Law Review. He began his professional career as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers. Nelson served as campaign manager for John Tunney’s successful campaign for the United States Senate in 1970. He began his career in real estate 35 years ago when he assumed the role of President of Coto de Caza, a 5,000-acre recreation and resort community in southeast Orange County. He remained active in California politics, serving as chairman of Tom Bradley’s successful campaigns for Mayor in 1973, 1977 and 1981 and chairman of Tom Bradley’s campaign for governor in 1982. After developing successful projects in Florida with his own real estate firm, he joined Maguire Thomas Partners as a senior partner. He was partner-in-charge of major projects in the Los Angeles area, including the Library Square development that resulted in the restoration of the historic Central Library and included the west’s tallest building, the 73-story Library Tower. He was also partner-in-charge of Playa Vista one of the largest and most complicated mixed-use developments in the history of Los Angeles. In 1994 he became CEO of Catellus Development Corporation. During his 11-year tenure at Catellus, he oversaw its successful evolution from a railroad land company to a diversified development company and to a real estate investment trust. Most notable of the many Catellus developments is Mission Bay in San Francisco, the largest mixed-use development in the history of the city. Catellus was also recognized as a leading developer of ‘brown fields’ projects, including Mission Bay, the former Kaiser Steel Mill in Fontana, the Alameda Naval Air Station, the Coastal Oil Refinery in Hercules, and several restoration and development projects in northern New Jersey. Catellus merged with ProLogis in September 2005. The combined company offers the world’s largest network of distribution facilities, with more than 380 million square feet, owned, managed or under development in 76 markets in North America, Europe and Asia. Nelson is currently Chairman of Rising Realty Partners, LLC. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of ProLogis, the Board of Directors of Morgan Stanley’s Prime Property Fund, the Board of Directors of Foley Timber & Land Company and was recently elected to the Boards of Directors of The Irvine Company and The TCW Group, Inc. Rising is survived by his wife, Sharon, their two sons, Christopher and Matthew, three grandchildren, and a sister, Charlotte Conway. His daughter, Corinne, died in 2018.