Ed Broida

Edward R. Broida, an architect and real estate developer who retired at 40 in 1974 so he could devote his fortune to his passion, collecting contemporary art, died on April 14 2006 at his home in Malibu, Calif. He was 72. The cause was cancer, his wife, Gisele Galante Broida, said. Mr. Broida collected distinguished Modern art as well as contemporary pieces, He was born on Oct. 20, 1933, in Cleveland, where his father was an architect. He graduated with a degree in architecture from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. After several years of working in his father's office, Mr. Broida moved to Los Angeles, where, in 1962, he became a partner in R&B Development. He was a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art. In addition to his wife, Mr. Broida, who was previously married four times, is survived by two sons, David, of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Eric, of Pacific Palisades, Calif., and two daughters, Julie, of Santa Monica, Calif., and Alexa, of Manhattan.