Henry Moskowitz (1905 – September 7, 2008) was a New York-based real estate investor and founder of the real estate management company The Argo Corporation. He also built and owned hotels in Israel.

Biography

Moskowitz was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in Kielce, Poland. He lost his first wife, daughter, both parents, and a brother in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

.New York Press: "A MAN WHO WANTED TO BUILD, NOT RETREAT"
November 21, 2008 In December 1944, he was interned in the

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

.USC Shoah Foundation Institute testimony of Henry Moskowitz
retrieved January 1, 2014 In 1948, he remarried in Germany to his second wife, Rose. They had two children in Germany, Sonia and Jacob. In 1951, the family immigrated to the United States, settling on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

of Manhattan and had two more children: Dan and Mark. In 1952, pooling the assets of over 100 investors, many of them Holocaust survivors, he founded The Argo Corporation and began investing in real estate in New York City. The partnerships' early investments were all rentals and Argo was hired by the partnerships to manage them.The Cooperator: "The Argo Corporation - A Full-Service Real Estate Team" By Barbara Wagner
November 2000 In 1955, he purchased the Ivy Hill Park Apartment complex in the Ivy Hill neighborhood in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

; the complex consists of ten fifteen story buildings and is New Jersey's largest privately owned apartment complex. Argo eventually converted most of its buildings in Manhattan into

cooperative ownership A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

during the 1960s and 1970s typically keeping the management contract thereafter.New York Times: "Condominium Offering Plan on Upper West Side" By RACHELLE GARBARINE
March 21, 1997 , ''Argo converted 14 properties to 2,048 cooperative units'' In the 1980s, they expanded into third party management of buildings. In 1997, he made his first

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

conversion. He also owned hotels in Israel. He grew the business to become one of the largest independent real estate management companies in New York City. As of 2013, Argo owns 5,500 units and manages 6,500 units on behalf of condominiums and cooperatives.Argo Corporation website: "About Us"
retrieved December 26, 2013 In addition to management and the conversion of rental buildings to cooperatives and condominiums,Real Estate Weekly: "Argo named NYARM Management Company of the Year"
October 2, 2013 Argo continues to invest in building ownership and also will purchase individual unsold units in buildings for rental. His son, Mark Moskowitz, now runs the company. Moskowitz was known for not selling any of his buildings. In 2008, the Broadway Mall Association dedicated the Henry Moskowitz North Mall in his honor. Moskowitz was a strong supporter of Israel. In 2010, the Square of Hope in the

Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations The Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations () is part of the much larger Yad Vashem complex located on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem. Along with some two dozen different structures within the Yad Vashem memorial – which is the secon ...

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

was dedicated in his honor. He was also a supporter of the Givat Haviva Educational Institute in Israel and the

USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education The USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education, formerly Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making audio-visual interviews with survivors and witnesses of the ...

.USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education: List of Donors
retrieved January 1, 2014 In 1998, he was recognized by former Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

with the Foreign Investor Jubilee Award. Although raised

Hassidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

, after World War II, he practiced

Modern Orthodox Judaism Modern Orthodox Judaism (also Modern Orthodox or Modern Orthodoxy) is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to Torah Umadda#Synthesis, synthesize Jewish principles of faith, Jewish values and the halakha, observance of Jewish law with t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moskowitz, Henry American Hasidim American businesspeople in real estate American real estate investors Businesspeople from New York City 1905 births 2008 deaths American Modern Orthodox Jews Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors American real estate company founders Polish emigrants to the United States Real estate investing 20th-century American businesspeople