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It could have been Gerzhevsky Department Stores, M/I Gerzhevsky Homes and the law firm of Gerzhevsky, Zox & Dunn. Who's to say whether the Lithuanian immigrant family would have had the same success if it hadn't adopted the surname Schottenstein.
Today, it's the fourth generation of the family that's poised to take over the empires built by the sons and grandsons of Heshel Schottenstein.
It's hard to live in Central Ohio and not have been touched by something the Schottensteins have had a part in: retail stores, apartment complexes, strip centers, the Arthur James Cancer Hospital the Jewish community, Port Columbus, the Columbus College of Art and Design, the Ohio Center of Science and Industry...the list goes on and on.
What may be a typical hard-working family has been raised to celebrity status by virtue of a few stellar performers. Ask anyone who knows them and they'll tell you the Schottensteins are like any other family.
If there's anything to be learned from the family's history, it's that, "Anybody can do it," says Brad Kastan, son-in-law of the late Mel Schottenstein and a senior vice president at PaineWebber.
The family arrived in America in the early 1900s, virtually penniless.
Out of nothing, they created:
* Schottenstein Stores Corp.--a private entity and majority owner of the publicly traded Value City Department Store chain, which in 1994 had total store sales of more than $1 billion for its 10th consecutive year of growth. The same family also owns Valley Fair Corp. and American Eagle Outfitters.
* M/I Schottenstein Homes--the No. 4 builder of single-family homes in the country.
* Schottenstein Zox & Dunn--at one time the fourth largest law firm in Columbus.
* Arshot Investment Corp.--developers of the Fifth Third Center at the site of the former Beggs Building, and the Colt's Neck community in Jefferson Township.
* ENBE Inc.--developers of Market Mohawk and The Sycamores.
* Wyandotte Management Co.--developers of the Wyandotte apartment communities and part of a joint venture in the Little Turtle development.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Heshel Schottenstein immigrated to the United States from Lithuania in 1908. According to his grandson Morris, who authored two books on the family, both titled, "The Schottensteins: A Family Biographical Essay," the family was known as Gerzhevsky because...