He spent many of his 92 years as a mentor to other local businesspeople and entrepreneurs. Written By: Laura Butterbrodt | ×
Joel Labovitz at the University of Minnesota Duluth in October 1984. (Photo courtesy of the UMD Archives)
Joel Labovitz spent much of his life cultivating Duluth’s economic development, the effects of which are still at work today through the national retail chain Maurices; Labovitz Enterprises and the Lion Hotel Group; and the Labovitz School of Business and Economics at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
The entrepreneur, businessman and mentor died Feb. 13 at his home in La Jolla, California, at age 92.
“He was such an iconic entrepreneur, deeply embedded in Duluth and just cared tremendously about Duluth,” said Amy Hietapelto, dean of the Labovitz School of Business and Economics. “We are just so lucky that he wanted to have a top university and a top business school in the Duluth community.”
There’s no question that the service industry took a hit this year.
International and domestic travel was halted for several months and later discouraged in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. This limited the need for lodging.
The week ending Dec. 12 saw an occupancy rate of nearly 38% a decrease of over 37% compared with the same week last year. And the average daily rate has fallen by nearly 32%, to $85.88 that same week, according to data from STR.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul market itself hit another mark the week ending Dec. 12. It was ranked among the lowest markets for occupancy rates, with a rate of over 24%, according to STR.