Martin L. Millspaugh was born on December 16, 1925. After attending the local Gilman School he went on to serve for two years in World War II in the U.S. Army 20th Air Force. Upon his return to the United States, Millspaugh graduated summa cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs at Princeton University in the Class of 1947.

After his education, Millspaugh began a career as a journalist, first for the News Leader in Richmond, Virginia and later the Baltimore Evening Sun in Maryland, where he was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Baltimore Plan of Neighborhood Rehabilitation and the origin of the national program of urban development and renewal at the local and national scale.

From 1957 to 1960, Millspaugh was Assistant Commissioner of the U.S. Urban Renewal Administration (now part of the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development).

From 1965 to 1985 he was Chief Executive of the non-profit, public-private corporation that he created to manage the implementation of Baltimore's Charles Center-Inner Harbor Redevelopment Program.

After the substantial completion of the Inner Harbor development in 1985, Millspaugh became President and then Vice Chair of the non-profit Enterprise Development Companies, of Columbia, Maryland. He was responsible for the creation of the companies' international consulting business, utilizing Baltimore's Inner Harbor as a model for other cities' public and private "place-making" projects on five continents.

While at Enterprise, he served on the Board of a partner organization, Merlin International Properties, Ltd., based in the Isle of Man.

In 2005, he became Chairman of the non-profit corporation that created Global Harbors, a documentary film based on "City Alive," the presentation that Millspaugh had prepared for other public and private decision-makers from cities around the world, who wished to learn about the Baltimore Renaissance as a model for their own waterfront redevelopment programs.

Millspaugh was selected by the Greater Baltimore Committee to receive its Annual Award for Civic Achievement in 1981. He was also named an Honorary Member of the international Urban Land Institute, where he served on the Institute's International and Urban Development Councils, and was the founding Chairman of the Institute's Baltimore Council. He has lectured at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia and NYU, and served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins University Real Estate Institute.

He was a member of Advisory Boards of the Baltimore Aquarium, the Columbia University School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Twentieth Century Fund, the Waterfront Center, UMBC President’s Council and the Maryland Secretary of Transportation.

In Baltimore, he has served as a Trustee or Director for the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Association, Metropolitan YMCA, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the Savings Bank of Baltimore, Baltimore Equitable Society, World Trade Center Institute and the Roland Park Civic League, among others.

1937-1943

Attended the Gilman School in Baltimore, Maryland.

1944-1946

Served in World War II, U.S. Army 20th Air Force.

1946-1949

Graduated summa cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Thesis: "The Definition of News."

1949-1953

Worked as a general assignment reporter for the News Leader in Richmond, Virginia.

1953-1957

Edited and co-authored "The Human Side of Urban Renewal." Published by the Fund for Adult Education of the Ford Foundation, 1958.

Worked as an investigative reporter for the Evening Sun in Baltimore, Maryland. Covered the birth of the national program of urban development and the pioneering local program in Baltimore.

1957-1960

Received the 1960 Distinguished Service Award of the U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency (later the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD).

Presented professional papers on the economic development movement to organizations such as the Academy for Political Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Council on Urban Economic Development, the American Planning Association, Harvard School of Design and Institute for Public-Private Partnerships.

Appointed Assistant U.S. Commissioner for Program Planning and Development of the Urban Renewal Administration in the Eisenhower administration. Helped author the block grant form of federal assistance to cities, and amendments to the National Housing Act that made commercial redevelopment projects eligible for federal funding.

1960-1965

Employed as Deputy General Manager of the Charles Center Management Office for the Charles Center Project, the first urban redevelopment project in the center of a major city.

1965-1985

Employed as founder, president, chairman, and CEO of the Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management, Inc., which oversaw the renewal of 300 acres of Downtown Baltimore, including 120 individual projects.

1985-2005

Named an Honorary Member and Lifetime Council Member of ULI in 1996.

Created the Baltimore District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and served on the national ULI’s Urban Development and Public-Private Partnership Councils, the Awards and District Council Committees and the first International Committee.

Employed as President and later Vice Chairman of the Enterprise Development Companies (including the Enterprise Development Corporation).