Mark Lawrence Epstein (born July 14, 1954), nicknamed "Puggy", is an American property developer and the brother of

Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...

. A former artist, Epstein has founded and led real estate companies, a T-shirt printing business, a modelling agency and a charter company. His wealth and the source of it has been the subject of investigation by both ''Dow Jones Institutional News'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''.

Early life and education

Mark Epstein was born in 1954 and is the younger brother of

(January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019). Their parents were Pauline ''née'' Stolofsky, (1918–2004) and Seymour G. Epstein (1916–1991) who were

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 ...

and had married in 1952. The brothers grew up in the neighborhood of Sea Gate, a private gated community in

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City. He is a 1976 graduate of

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

. He also studied at

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

. In 2002, he was Cooper Union's Alumnus of the Year.

Career

A former artist, Epstein has been a real estate investor since the 1990s. He was the president of J. Epstein & Co, his brother's investment company and an executive of Ossa Properties. He is the owner of a T-shirt printing company Izmo that he founded in 1986. He also was the head of Atelier Enterprises, a leasing and chartering company. From 1987 to 2015 he was the owner-operator of Epstein Acquisitions, and in 2005 he incorporated Saint Model and Talent. The source of Mark Epstein's wealth has been described by both ''Dow Jones Institutional News'' and ''

'' (WSJ) as mysterious, after he refused to answer WSJ's journalists' questions about the source of his wealth. The newspaper noted his ownership of the $1m luxury yacht ''Izmo'', and a 16-story condominium that he purchased from

Les Wexner LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimen ...

in the 1990s. The building had a mortgage of $7.24 million at the time. He is a six-figure donor to

and was the chair of the school's governing board until 2015, when he resigned under pressure following the

Cooper Union financial crisis and tuition protests The Cooper Union financial crisis and tuition protests constitute the events surrounding Cooper Union's announcement that they would begin charging tuition after being a tuition-free school for most of its history. The possible mismanagement of ...

. He donated his luxury yacht Izmo to the Marine Science and Nautical Training Academy in Charleston. He also served on the board of directors of the Humpty Dumpty Institute, an international charity that he loaned over $100,000 to in 2014. He also loaned $75,000 to Exit Art, a not-for-profit cultural center that he also was a board director for.

Politics and personal life

After his brother Jeffrey died in prison in 2019, he has publicly expressed doubt that his death was due to suicide, having stated his death "looks more like a homicide." Mark was identified by court papers as Jeffrey's only potential heir. He has two children with Joyce Anderson, whom he lived with in

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

for seven years before their relationship ended. He has a home in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and property in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Mark 1954 births Living people 20th-century American artists 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews American real estate and property developers Cooper Union alumni Jeffrey Epstein Jews from New York City People from Sea Gate, Brooklyn Philanthropists from Brooklyn Real estate and property developers from Brooklyn Stony Brook University alumni