[1] The second of six children, DeBartolo was born in Youngstown, Ohio, a center of steel production that was also a major destination for immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe.

[2] Michael DeBartolo emigrated from Terlizzi, Apulia, Italy, with his family at age 17 and became a paving contractor and builder of warehouses and other structures.

[1] While a teenager, Edward DeBartolo began working, translating paving contracts for his stepfather, who did not read or write English.

It was during the War, in 1944, that he married Marie Patricia Montani and incorporated his own company, The Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation.

His first retail development was the construction of Gray Drug and Sears, Roebuck and Co. department store in the "Uptown" area of Youngstown.

[5] In 1990, Federated went bankrupt, defaulting on the repayment of the loans made by DeBartolo;[3] it emerged from bankruptcy after the ouster of Campeau in 1992 as a new public company under the name "Macy's, Inc."[6] During the course of the bankruptcy, DeBartolo's cash flow was severely impaired, due to Federated's nonpayment as well as the real estate recession of the time.

[3] DeBartolo's idea of a retail real estate developer going forward with new projects easily and quickly by virtue of anchor stores which he owned,[9] would never become a reality.

As a result of several years' impaired cash flow, DeBartolo prepared to take his company public as a real estate investment trust or "REIT".

In late 1993, the two largest shopping center companies at the time, DeBartolo and Simon were coming to the market simultaneously.

Their advisors informed them that the capital markets could not absorb that much equity; either one of them must back down or prices would suffer severely.

[16] The family also owned the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League from February 1977 until selling it to an ownership group led by Howard Baldwin in November 1991.