Daniel Brodsky (born 1944) is an American

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

, art collector, and member of the board at

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...

, where he served as chairman from 2011-2021.Inside Philanthropy: "Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky"
/ref>
October 4, 2014

Biography

Daniel Brodsky was born in 1944. His mother Shirley (née Markowitz) is a painter and his father, Nathan Brodsky, was a real estate developer.
November 14, 2008
August 1, 2006 He has one sister Thea Brodsky Amro. He earned a B.A. in political science from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1968 and an M.A. in urban planning from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in 1970.Real Estate Board of New York: "Daniel Brodsky - The Brodsky Organization"
retrieved April 14, 2017 In 1971, he joined the real estate development and management firm founded by his father. In 1981, the firm was renamed The Brodsky Organization. In 2006, his father died and Daniel became the CEO of The Brodsky Organization. The Brodsky Organization has developed over 8,000 apartments in New York City, and is one of the largest developers of middle class housing in the city.

Philanthropy and Board Memberships

Brodsky has served the boards of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

and the

Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

and is currently a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

of the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

. In 2011, he was elected Chairman of

where he had previously served on its Real Estate Council (1984), as a trustee of the museum, and vice chairman of the Buildings Committee. He established the Brodsky Family Fellowship at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service which provides scholarships for students studying in the areas of urban economic development, housing policy, and affordable housing. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York. In 2012, following the appointment at The Met, the

by-laws A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some other ...

of the museum were formally amended to recognize the office of the chairman as having authority over the assignment and review of both the offices of president and director of the museum.'Met Museum Changes Leadership Structure'. NY Times, June 13, 2017
/ref> The office of chairman was first introduced relatively late in the museum's history in the 1960s in contemplation of the anticipated donation of the Lehman collection to the museum and has since that time, under Brodsky, become the most senior administrative position at the museum. Brodsky's term as Chairman of

ended in January 2021.

Personal life

He is married to art historian and philanthropist Estrellita Brodsky, the daughter of immigrants from

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. Mrs. Brodsky was named one of the Top 200 Collectors by ArtNews Magazine for 2017 and 2018. They have three children, Katherine, Alexander, and Thomas. Most of the family are alumni of NYU with his wife obtaining a PhD from New York University Institute of Fine Arts in 2009; his daughter a J.D. in 2006; and his son, Alexander, a B.S. from the

Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development The New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development (commonly referred to as NYU Steinhardt) is the education school of New York University. The school was founded as the School of Pedagogy in 1890. Prior to ...

in 2001. His sons Alexander and Thomas and his nephew, J. Dean Amro, all hold senior positions at The Brodsky Organization.The Real Deal: "Figuring out who’s next in line" By Philana Patterson
October 31, 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brodsky, Daniel American businesspeople in real estate 21st-century American philanthropists Living people 1945 births 21st-century American Jews