Rifkind is survived by his wife Helen, his sons Aaron and Jonathan, his daughter Jillian, his sister Donna and her husband, Joe. Funeral services are scheduled for Wednesday at 12:30 pm at Mt. Sinai Simi Valley, 6150 Mt. Sinai Dr., Simi Valley, CA 93063. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to Jews for Judaism or the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies.

LOS ANGELES—David Rifkind, co-founding partner of George Smith Partners, died Monday at his home, age 51. Rifkind succumbed to a rare, rapidly degenerative and incurable neurological disease.

Valued as a role model and mentor at GSP, Rifkind got an early state in commercial real estate, buying his first property at age 22. He “camped out” at the owner's office until he put the project into contract, and then assembled a capital structure with a community bank and equity that included a cash advance from his personal credit card.

In a statement, Rifkind's GSP colleagues say that “while very successful throughout his career as an investor, broker and lender, he remained humble and sincere. He was a great listener and cared about what people had to say. When he spoke, we listened, because his comments and insights were thoughtful and well-informed.”

As a community leader, Rifkind was chair of the board of Jews for Judaism, a board bember of the Ziegler School at AJU and Ilan Ramon Day School, and was active in the Real Estate Cabinet of the Jewish Federation and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), among numerous other organizations. He ran the building committee for the Heschel Day School as the committee worked on a major expansion.

Rifkind is survived by his wife Helen, his sons Aaron and Jonathan, his daughter Jillian, his sister Donna and her husband, Joe. Funeral services are scheduled for Wednesday at 12:30 pm at Mt. Sinai Simi Valley, 6150 Mt. Sinai Dr., Simi Valley, CA 93063. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to Jews for Judaism or the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies.