Joseph C. Canizaro, a prolific real-estate developer who thought and built big, resulting in a series of projects that changed the skyline of downtown New Orleans and a fortune he dedicated to philanthropy and support for Republican politics, died Friday night at his Metairie home. He was 88.

His death, which followed a series of strokes, was confirmed by close friend Boysie Bollinger.

Canizaro’s time developing properties coincided with a period of transformation for New Orleans. City leaders were eager to compete with other growing southern cities, where skyscrapers were rising and big infrastructure investments were underway.

One New Orleans project in the early 1960s, the International Trade Mart at the foot of Canal Street, served as inspiration. Canizaro visited it while it was being built, he told Biz New Orleans Magazine in a 2014 interview, and when he looked down after climbing 26 flights of stairs, he saw the point where Canal and Poydras streets almost converge near the Mississippi River.

“I remember thinking, ‘This is where I want to construct a great building — a model for what the future of New Orleans can be,’” he said in the interview.

Aquarium of the Americas, World Trade Center, Canal Street, One Canal Place, Riverwalk. Aerial shot on Thursday, August 14, 2014. (Michael DeMocker, Nola.com / The Times-Picayune)

Michael DeMocker

He first turned to a piece of property slightly farther up Poydras, developing the Lykes Center in 1966. At the time, Poydras Street was an undistinguished thoroughfare, but the 276-foot building at 300 Poydras, constructed to serve as the home of the Lykes Brothers Steamship Co. (and now home to the Loews Hotel), established Canizaro as a visionary builder, according to developer Darryl Berger.

“He saw the potential long before others did that movement would be toward the river,” said Berger.

“I think he was probably the most creative, energetic and accomplished developer of our generation in New Orleans,” Berger added. “Few, if any, achieved more in terms of projects and changing the landscape than Joe did. … He had a tremendous ambition to achieve.”

He followed the Lykes Center with a building at the location he had looked down on from the Trade Mart: One Canal Place, a complex containing an office tower, a high-rise hotel and an upscale shopping center on the edge of the French Quarter. Canizaro partnered with the Shah of Iran on the project; after he was overthrown in 1979, Canizaro paid $50 million to buy out out his share, according to The New York Times. One Canal Place opened in 1983.

Canizaro continued to develop downtown but also completed projects across the New Orleans metro area and the region. His projects included the First Bank Center (formerly known as the Galleria) in Metairie; the Information Technology Center Office Complex, which is in the University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park; and a combination of office buildings, hotels and mixed-use projects throughout the southern and southwestern United States.

Joe Canizaro in 1983 in this file photo.

Bollinger, a philanthropist and former CEO of Bollinger Shipyards, described Canizaro as “a workaholic” and “a very intense human,” adding, “I don’t know any hobbies he has unless you would call work his hobby.”

In addition to real estate development, Canizaro was also a force in local banking. In May 1991, he led an investor group that took over the failed First City Bank, renaming it First Bank and Trust. It was eventually sold to BankPlus.

Green Dot controversy

Canizaro also served as a New Orleans civic leader and was named to an advisory commission on the rebuilding the city after Hurricane Katrina. In rebuilding the city, “the citizens in the neighborhoods rose to the occasion,” Canizaro said in an interview with the Urban Land Institute.

But the role drew criticism from some residents because the committee he led, known as the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, recommended against rebuilding in the most severely damaged neighborhoods. Those areas were marked on maps with large green circles, resulting in intense opposition and the description of the proposal as the Green Dot plan.

Rogelio Solis/AP — Bring New Orleans Back Commission members Alden McDonald, left, and Joseph Canizaro, listen as the highlights of the commission’s master plan are unveiled, Friday, Jan. 27, 2006, in New Orleans. The commission released an 86-page master plan for the economic, civic and community revitalization of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

The plan went nowhere and Canizaro moved on to other endeavors. Canizaro and his wife, Sue Ellen Canizaro, had to rebuild too. Their home in Metairie, complete with a chapel where the devout Roman Catholic prayed regularly, took on roughly 2 feet of floodwater and was heavily damaged.

Political prominence

Berger said that Canizaro favored Democratic politicians in his younger years, especially Moon Landrieu, whose time as mayor from 1970 to 1978 coincided with Canizaro’s rise as a major developer.

“He became very close with Moon, so close that when Moon stepped down as HUD secretary (in 1981), Joe hired him,” Berger said, “but that didn’t last.”

President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, took office in 1981, and the GOP started to gain strength. Canizaro identified more with Republicans than Democrats, Berger said, “and he really went into overdrive to become a player on the national scene.”

He was a major donor to Republican candidates, most notably President Donald J. Trump, for whom he held two fundraisers in his home. Tickets for the latter event started at $3,300 per person. The Canizaros have contributed at least $833,000 to Trump and the GOP since 2017.

For these big-ticket events, Canizaro teamed up with Bollinger, who said it wasn’t business interests that attracted his friend to high-stakes politics.

“It was ideology,” Bollinger said. “I don’t ever remember discussing business with Joe on these occasions.”

Biloxi roots

Canizaro, who lived in New Orleans for more than six decades, grew up in Biloxi, Mississippi. His father, Dr. Vito Canizaro, was a surgeon. The oldest of eight children, Canizaro graduated from Notre Dame High School. He attended several colleges but did not graduate.

Canizaro credited his father for showing him the way to succeed.

“He taught me to be a confident person,” Canizaro said in the Biz New Orleans interview. “Early on, I learned the value of working hard and making sure I had all of the facts before moving ahead with the next step in my life.”

New Orleans Breakers No. 1 draft choice Buford Jordan dons a Breakers cap after signing with the team Jan. 14, 1984. Team owner Joe Canizaro looks on.

Staff file photo by Eliot Kamenitz

One of Canizaro’s few unsuccessful ventures was his ownership of the New Orleans Breakers, a United States Football League team he bought in 1983. It lost about $17 million over three seasons in three different cities and folded in 1986.

Still, Canizaro’s most visible legacy is in downtown New Orleans, where in addition to One Canal Place and the Lykes Center, he built the Texaco Center (now the 400 Poydras Tower), the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza and the LL&E Tower (now the First Bank and Trust Tower).

All were imposing buildings in their own right. But Berger said Canal Place made the public aware of the riverfront’s potential, leading to a renewed interest in the area. And the office towers along Poydras — the Lykes Center, the Texaco Center and the LL&E Tower — helped turn that street into New Orleans’ premier office corridor.

Major philanthropic gifts

Canizaro served as the founding president of the local chapter of Legatus, an international organization of Catholic business executives. He and his wife gave $5 million to Loyola University to establish the Canizaro Center for Catholic Studies and an unspecified amount to set up the Canizaro Library at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida.

He and Maj. Gen. James E. Livingston, a Medal of Honor recipient, founded the Canizaro/Livingston Gulf States Center for Environmental Informatics at the University of New Orleans to apply information science to environmental issues.

Among the honors he received were honorary doctorates from Our Lady of Holy Cross College (now the University of Holy Cross) and Notre Dame Seminary, the Mayor’s Medal of Honor, the Louisiana Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame Award, the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans.

In addition to his wife, survivors include two daughters, Joellen Canizaro of Metairie and Jill Canizaro Randle of Newport Beach, California; two brothers, Vito Canizaro Jr. of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and Roy Canizaro of Hattiesburg, Mississippi; two sisters, Anna Rose Canizaro Bacas of Picayune, Mississippi, and Vita Canizaro of Kingwood, Texas; a grandchild and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.