Max Odlen, 98, a developer of residential communities in South Jersey for more than 40 years, died Tuesday at Doctors Hospital in Sarasota, Fla. He previously lived in Cherry Hill.

Mr. Odlen's developments included Country Estates and Fargo Homes in Haddonfield, Beverly Gardens in Beverly, and Cherry Downs, Maxwell Downs, and Downs Farm in Cherry Hill. In the late 1980s, he developed Willow Ridge, a Cherry Hill office-and-condominium complex, and remained active in the business until retiring to Florida in the 1990s.

Early in his career, Mr. Odlen told a Courier-Post reporter that he donated land in his developments for townships to build schools for his home-buyers' children. In the 1950s, as president of the Builders League of South Jersey, he gave advice on landscaping to homeowners.

Mr. Odlen was past president of the Jewish Federation of South Jersey and past chairman of the building committee of the Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill. He served on the board of Jewish Federation Housing and the Jewish Geriatric Home in Cherry Hill.

He received many honors, including being named 1966 man of the year by the Camden Lodge of Brith Sholom. He was twice honored by the Jewish Federation of Camden County as volunteer of the year - once with his father, Herman, and once with his brother, Joseph.

Mr. Odlen was past president of Congregation Beth El in Camden and cochaired the building committee when Beth El decided to construct a synagogue in Voorhees. The project was completed in 1968.

Rabbi Harry B. Kellman, who led the congregation at the time, wrote in a history of Beth El that "Max literally neglected his own business. He put years of time and effort into this building. We went over every nail, every piece of hardware, every doorknob. It could never have happened without Max."

Mr. Odlen graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School in 1930 and went to work for his father, a general contractor. During World War II he worked at New York Shipbuilding in Camden. After the war he established Max Odlen Construction in Cherry Hill.

He and his wife, Marianna Och Odlen, lived in Longboat Key, Fla., but spent late summer and early fall in Cherry Hill every year.

In addition to his wife of 37 years, Mr. Odlen is survived by a daughter, Nina; a stepson, Walter Pudelko; stepdaughters Diana Rodier, Heidi Demeuse, and Renate Gabel; a sister; 13 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Another daughter, Marcia Veit, died in 1958, and his former wife, Emily Rosenberg Odlen, died in 1992.

A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Congregation Beth El, 8000 Main St., Voorhees, where friends may call after 10:15. Burial will be in Crescent Burial Park, Pennsauken.

Memorial donations may be made to the Odlen Library in care of Congregation Beth El.

Contact staff writer Sally A. Downey at 215-854-2913 or sdowney@phillynews.com.