Regency Centers Corp. announced in a March 11 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Joan Wellhouse Stein Newton, co-founder of a predecessor company that became Regency Centers, died at age 97.
Newton and her husband, Martin Stein Sr., founded the company in 1963, and they opened Jacksonville’s first regional shopping mall, Regency Square, in 1967.
Regency Centers sold the now-closed mall in 1991.
Jacksonville-based Regency Centers went public in 1993 with Newton’s son, Martin “Hap” Stein Jr., as CEO.
Hap Stein retired as CEO at the end of 2019 but remains executive chair of the Jacksonville-based company which now has 481 properties, mainly grocery-anchored shopping centers, across the country.
Martin Stein Sr. died in 1988.
Newton was chair of the company until 1997 and chair emeritus until 2006.
“Mrs. Newton played a foundational and enduring leadership role at Regency, but also is one of the most significant and noteworthy female leaders in the history of the U.S. REIT sector,” Regency said in the SEC filing.
Regency disclosed Newton’s passing in an SEC filing because implementation of her estate plan will result in 150,000 to 200,000 Regency shares being sold.
Regency has more than 180 million shares outstanding.
Newton married Russell Newton in 2000. He died in 2023.
A published obituary by Dignity Memorial said she is survived by three sons, Hap, Rick and Bobby, and their spouses, nine grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and five stepchildren.
A service is scheduled for 2 p.m. March 16 at St. John’s Cathedral at 256 E. Church St. in Downtown Jacksonville.