Recipient of the Philip Bowen Award At Big House Big Heart on October 4th for long-lasting service above and beyond to his community and others.

The Philip J Bowen Award is given to a person who exemplifies extraordinary service to their community and to helping others. Big House Big Heart was started by Mike Highfield to honor his law partner Phil Bowen, from the law firm, Conlin, Mckenney and Philbrick. Phil passed away 2 weeks before the first BHBH, stricken with ALS. BHBH began as an event to raise awareness about ALS and to raise money for ALS research at the University of Michigan. It has grown into a fundraiser also for CS Mott Hospital and UM Cardiovascular Center plus hundreds of area non profits, many of which Phil Bowen served during his life in Ann Arbor.

A. Alfred Taubman, one of America’s most successful entrepreneurs, is active in numerous businesses and philanthropic initiatives. He is the founder of Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO), one of the nation’s leading real estate developers and operators of regional shopping centers, and is the author of the best-selling business memoir, Threshold Resistance: The Extraordinary Career of a Retailing Pioneer, published by Harper Collins in 2007.

Mr. Taubman grew up in Pontiac, Michigan, and his corporate headquarters of Taubman Centers remains in Bloomfield Hills. Although his philanthropic efforts span the globe, he is particularly active in and generous to the state of Michigan and has given more than $80 million to the University of Michigan, where he went to school before enlisting to serve in the Second World War. His largest donation was to establish an endowment for the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan Medical School, which funds stem cell and other transformative medical research. He is also the principal benefactor of the University of Michigan's College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Health Care Center, and Medical Library - - each of which bears his name.

Mr. Taubman has also been a major supporter of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Center for Creative Studies, Lawrence Technical University and many Jewish charitable organizations. Elsewhere, he established and funds the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School and Brown University's Public Policy and American Institutions program.

Mr. Taubman has served as a director of Manufacturers Bank of Detroit, Chase Manhattan Bank of New York, United Brands, R.H. Macy Co., Getty Oil Company, and Sotheby’s Holdings. He was chairman of Sotheby’s from 1983 to 2000 and chairman of the Irvine Company from 1977 to 1983.

Mr. Taubman is president of the City of Detroit Arts Commission; chairman emeritus of The Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution and member of the National Board of the Smithsonian Associates; founding member, Detroit Renaissance, Inc.; and a Governor of the Urban Land Institute Foundation. Mr. Taubman is chairman emeritus of the Advisory Board of the University of Pennsylvania's Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center. He is a former chairman of the National Realty Committee, the predecessor of the Real Estate Roundtable, Washington, D.C. He is a trustee of Detroit's College for Creative Studies.

Honors awarded Mr. Taubman include: Urban Land Institute Lifetime Achievement Award; Museum of Arts and Design Visionaries Award; Detroit Institute of Arts Lifetime Service Award; Doctor of Laws degree, conferred by the University of Michigan; Doctor of Business, conferred by Eastern Michigan University; Doctor of Architecture, conferred by Lawrence Technological University; Doctor of Education, conferred by Michigan State University; Doctor of Humanities, conferred by Northern Michigan University; Doctor of Fine Arts, conferred by the College for Creative Studies; Doctor of Public Service, conferred by Ferris State University; Harvard Business School Club of Detroit Business Statesman Award; Sportsman of the Year Award from both the United Foundation of Detroit and the Southeast Michigan Chapter - March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation; and The Detroit News Michiganian of the Year.