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GREENSBORO — The founder of the outlet shopping industry and active local philanthropist Stanley Tanger, 87, died of pneumonia Saturday.

Tanger, a longtime Greensboro resident, is survived by his wife of 63 years, Doris, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He built his discount retail empire — and the very concept of the outlet mall — from a single shopping center in Burlington. Tanger Outlets, now run by his son, Steven, grossed $270 million last year.

Tanger shared that financial success through donations to public parks, cancer research and the Boy Scouts, according to his family and friends. Doris and Stanley Tanger will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Association for Fundraising Professionals for their extensive contributions to Greensboro Beautiful and Moses Cone Health System.

“They did so much, and they didn’t want the recognition for it,” said Ross Harris, who knows the Tangers from her own fundraising work. “It wasn’t about getting credit. It was about doing the right thing, recognizing a need and addressing it.”

Tanger, a World War II pilot, first experienced outlets when he ran the Tanger family business, Creighton Shirtmakers in Reidsville.

“At that time, the company had five outlet stores,” Steven Tanger said. “Stanley Tanger created the model factory outlet strip shopping center by clustering together other manufacturer outlets into a strip shopping center.”

Nearly 30 years later, the company has 33 outlets in 22 states, with the newest center opening Nov. 5 in Mebane. More than that, Tanger is credited with spawning the outlet shopping industry.

The company was the first of its kind of be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

“He started out with just a little tiny outlet mall over here in Burlington,” said Jim Melvin, president of the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation.

“What an entrepreneur. Look at what he built. What a huge operation.”

Tanger also leaves a legacy of financial contributions to the family’s favorite groups and organizations.

The Tangers have supported Greensboro Beautiful with donations of sculptures for city gardens, a wedding gazebo at the Greensboro Arboretum and a waterfall at the Bog Garden.

“We wouldn’t have a lot of the things we have at the gardens without him,” said Chris Wilson of the Greensboro Parks and Recreation department.

Lee Britt, a past chairwoman of Greensboro Beautiful, said Tanger “would go over and talk to the staff and say, ‘What do you need? What do you need?’ ”

The Bicentennial Gardens were renamed for the family after they made a $2 million commitment to preserve the park into the future.

“My mother always liked to walk in the garden. My dad did that in honor of one of their anniversaries,” Tanger’s daughter Susan Nehmen said.

Cancer treatment and awareness also were close to their hearts because Doris Tanger is a 40-year breast cancer survivor. “He was passionate in his philanthropy for breast cancer awareness,” Steven Tanger said. “The company has donated about $8.5 million for cancer awareness.”

Just last week, the Tangers attended the groundbreaking for the expansion of Moses Cone Health System’s Regional Cancer Center. The couple gave $1 million to that effort.

An oil portrait of the couple hangs at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, where Doris Tanger was treated, in honor of their financial generosity.

Center Director Kim Lyerly called Tanger a “thoughtful, forward-thinking kind of person.”

“The countless thousands of people who walk through those clinics have benefited from their generosity,” Harris said.

Tanger’s funeral services will be today at 11 a.m. at Temple Emanuel, 1129 Jefferson Road.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com.