Seymour Bernard Durst (September 7, 1913 – May 15, 1995) was an American real estate investor and developer. He created the

National Debt Clock The National Debt Clock is a billboard-sized running total Segment display#Segment displays, display that shows the National debt of the United States, United States gross national debt and each American family's share of the debt. , it is i ...

Early life and education

Durst was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City,Oser, Alan S. (May 20, 1995)
"Seymour B. Durst, Real-Estate Developer Who Led Growth on West Side, Dies at 81"
''The New York Times''. a son of Joseph Durst, 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 ...

immigrant from

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, Galicia,

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(present-day

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), and Rose Friedwald. His father was a tailor who arrived penniless to the United States, eventually becoming a successful dress manufacturer and then expanding into real estate management and development. His father was also active in the Jewish community, serving on the executive committee of the Jewish Education Association and serving as president of the Hebrew Free Loan Society for 27 years. He had four siblings: Roy, Alma, Edwin and David. In 1931, Durst graduated from the

Horace Mann School Horace Mann School (also known as Horace Mann or HM) is an American private, independent college-preparatory school in the Bronx, founded in 1887. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from the New Yo ...

in Riverdale, the Bronx. In 1935, he graduated from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where he majored in accounting.

Career

In 1940, Durst joined

The Durst Organization The Durst Organization is one of the oldest family-run commercial and residential real estate companies in New York City. Established in 1915, the company is owned and operated by the third generation of the Durst family. Durst is the owner, ...

, the real estate firm founded by his father. After his father's death in 1974, Seymour became more involved in the company. The company invested in Manhattan real estate, based upon Durst's belief that one should never buy anything one cannot walk to. While on holiday in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, in the early 1960s, Durst noticed a book on the history of New York City by a German author in a

mom-and-pop Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...

bookstore. He later said, "I figured if a German wrote a book about NYC that was available in Paris, that this was an interesting subject indeed." He began to collect books, establishing a collection that came to be known as the Old York Library. Housed in a brownstone on East 48th street in midtown Manhattan in the 1970s, the library later moved to another brownstone at 120 East 61st Street. After Durst's death in May 1995, the library was moved to the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

in the B. Altman Building across from the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

. It was later moved to

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

's Avery Architectural And Fine Arts Library where it is open to the public. Seymour Durst was vocal about his beliefs that the government should not interfere in real estate transactions. However, his son and successor,

Douglas Durst Douglas Durst (born December 19, 1944) is an American real estate investor and developer. He has been the president of The Durst Organization since 1992. Early life and education Durst was born in New York City in 1944 to a Jewish family, the ...

, received interest-free, government-issued

Liberty Bond A liberty bond or liberty loan was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the Allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financi ...

s under Governor

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984 ...

, and also used

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

to facilitate the family's growing real estate interests. The former subsidized the cost of building massive projects in both midtown and downtown Manhattan, and the latter enabled the Durst family to take holdout properties on West 42nd Street, where 4 Times Square and 1 Bryant Park were built. Durst was also concerned with the

national debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occ ...

. In 1989, Durst created and installed the

on a Durst Organization property in order to draw attention to the then-$2.7 trillion debt.

Personal life

In 1940, he married Bernice Herstein. They had four children: *

Robert Durst Robert Alan Durst (April 12, 1943 – January 10, 2022) was a convicted murderer and an American real estate heir. The eldest son of New York City real estate magnate Seymour Durst, he garnered attention as a suspect in the unsolved 1982 disappe ...

(19432022) – accused of three murders (acquitted in one on the grounds that the killing was

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of Force (law), ...

but convicted of tampering with evidence by dismembering the corpse), which are fictionalized in the 2010 movie '' All Good Things'', and the subject of a 2015 HBO series ('' The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst''), as well as an episode of ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...

'' and two episodes of '' Law and order SVU''. Robert Durst was arrested in 2015 for the alleged murder of Susan Berman and was convicted on September 17, 2021. *

(born 1944) – present chairman of The Durst Organization * Wendy Durst Kreeger – philanthropist and writer * Thomas Durst – philanthropist and writer Bernice Herstein Durst (1918–1950) died in 1950 at the age of 32 as a result of falling or jumping off the roof of their family home in Scarsdale. It was never determined if the death was an accident or a suicide. Their son Robert has said that he witnessed the event; his brother, Douglas, has said that none of the children witnessed the accident. Durst never remarried.

Legacy

After Durst's death, his son Douglas and nephew Jonathan (the son of his brother David) became more involved in the family business, The Durst Organization.

References

External links