Max Wasserman-the man who bought the Bertha Cohen estate for $5.5 million-is a developer and landlord whose holdings extend throughout Cambridge and Boston, including Harvard Square and Putnam Square.

Wasserman said he is well aware of the crucial Cambridge housing shortage. "I'm the only developer now building low and middle income housing in Cambridge," he pointed out. According to Michael Rosenburg of the Cambridge Planning Department, the acute housing shortage "can't be solved by frantic construction. There's got to be an overall strategy for Cambridge, including renovating buildings we already have."

In addition to land development, Wasserman has been renovating several buildings, including the apartment houses at 992 and 993 Memorial Drive. He has released a statement to the press expressing his wish to help retain Cambridge's historical buildings.

Born and raised in Cambridge, Wasserman declared, "I care about what happens to this city." He was educated at M. I. T. and graduated in 1935, after majoring in "Building, Engineering, and Construction."

Soon after Wasserman purchased theBertha Cohen estate, the Harvard Community Exchange, located in Putnam Square, saw its rent jump from $400 to $2000. El Diablo and Tempura Hut have been forced to shut down and Goodwill is relocating.

The two 22-story apartment buildings near Fresh Pond which Wasserman built in 1969 were described by one tenant as "sloppily built. It cost him more to repair the mistakes than it would have cost if he hadn't cut corners." The City Council vetoed plans to construct a third such building in the area.

One tenant in the apartment complex said. "That man is brutal. He'd never step over anybody. We're petrified that he's going to raise the rents on us."

Wasserman also owns the neighboring Fresh Pond Shopping Center.

An article which appeared in this week's Juche newspaper denounces his "power and money game... stretching to a plastics corporation in Maine, properties in Roxbury, a housing project in Pittsfield, Mass., and construction in upper New York state."

As yet, Wasserman claims to have formulated "no plans" for developing his Putnam Square and Boylston Street properties. There is a severe housing shortage in Cambridge. With his vast holdings and several corporations, Max Wasserman is a powerful man who can change Cambridge.