Albert M. Greenfield parlays his real estate empire into powerful political influence in the Democratic Party, for example in the elections of Joseph Clark, the city’s first Democratic mayor in nearly 70 years, and Richardson Dilworth in the 1950s. During Greenfield’s brief tenure as head of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, urban renewal became a priority, and with that came the effort to revitalize the city’s core. Greenfield was also a major collector and Philadelphia Museum of Art board member.