Robert Irwin Toll was born to a
Jewish family, the son of Sylvia (née Steinberg) and Albert Toll, he grew up in
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. was a millionaire investor who lost everything in the
stock market crash of 1929. His first job was at Camp Powhatan in
Otisfield, Maine where he was a counselor; it is now known as
Seeds of Peace and is dedicated to bringing together Arab, Israeli, Indian, and Pakistani teenagers to promote peaceful conflict resolution. In 1967, Toll and his brother
Bruce E. Toll founded Toll Brothers with a focus on building luxury homes ($500,000+) They grew the business using a conservative financial model always including a 10 percent cushion into all their projects and never assuming price appreciation during construction. In November 2013, Toll Brothers purchased Shapell Homes (founded by
Nathan Shapell) for $1.6 billion. ==Philanthropy and accolades==