Seymour Milstein (July 21, 1920 – October 2, 2001) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist.

Early life and education

Milstein 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 ...

familyBusiness Insider Australia: "MILSTEIN: The Rise And Schism Of A Powerful New York Family" by Carrie Hojnicki
June 15, 2012 in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and raised in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

.The New York Times: "Paul Milstein, City Real Estate Titan, Dies at 88"
Douglas Martin. August 9, 2010. His father was Morris Milstein, an immigrant from

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

, Ukraine (in what was then the Russian Empire) who started out as a floor scraper. In 1919, Morris founded the Circle Floor Company, Inc., a wood flooring business.The Real Deal Real Estate News: "Billionaire developer Paul Milstein dies" By Adam Pincus
August 09, 2010] Later in 1945, his father also founded the Mastic Tile Company, a vinyl floor tile manufacturer.The New York Times: "Seymour Milstein, City Real Estate Magnate, Dies at 81"
Terry Pristin. October 3, 2001. In 1941, Milstein graduated from

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 ...

. Soon after, he began working for his father's Mastic Tile Company, and became its president in 1955. Milstein's brother,

Paul Milstein Paul Milstein (May 12, 1922 – August 9, 2010) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist. Early life and education Paul Milstein was born to a Jewish family The New York Times: "Milstein Opens Throttle as Builder"
October 18, 1981 In 1959, Mastic Tile was sold to Ruberoid for $24 million. Circle Floor expanded into floor tiles, acoustical ceilings, and drywall construction and won contracts to install flooring in several New York landmarks including

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art De ...

, the United Nations Building, and both

John F Kennedy Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...

and

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport ( ) – colloquially known as LaGuardia or simply LGA – is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, situated on the North Shore (Long Island), northwestern shore of Long Island, bord ...

. By 1966, Circle Floor had become the largest subcontractor of floor, wall and ceiling construction in the United States.

Career

In the late 1950s, Milstein and his brother Paul founded Milstein Properties and branched out into real estate. Paul was the aggressive frontman and deal-maker while Seymour was the contemplative

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...

who preferred to work behind the scenes.The Lives They Lived: Seymour Milstein, b. 1920 Lewis Rudin, b. 1927 – Lords of the Land" by James Traub
December 30, 2001 This difference is temperament led them to be coined "the diplomat and the barbarian."New York Observer: "Battle of Milsteins: Old Brothers Clash, As Do Grown-Up Boys" By Andrew Rice
May 29, 2000 In 1964, they completed their first large real estate development, the 34-story, 680-unit Dorchester Towers 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 ...

. Circle Floor Company was sold to

Kinney Parking Company Kinney Parking Company was a New Jersey parking lot company owned by Manny Kimmel, Sigmund Dornbusch, and mob figure Abner Zwillman. History Kinney Parking Company was incorporated in 1945 by Manny Kimmel. In 1961, Kinney reached an agreemen ...

(then run by Steve Ross) in 1964 for $15 million while Paul remained as manager of the unit 1971. From 1964 to 1973, Seymour Milstein was the chairman of the

Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center The BronxCare Health System, previously known as "Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center", is a hospital in the Bronx, New York City. It was founded as the Lebanon Hospital by Jonas Weil in 1890. In 1962, Lebanon Hospital merged with Bronx Hospital, and s ...

. In 1974, the Milsteins entered the mining and energy sectors, acquiring

United Brands Chiquita Brands International S.à.r.l. (), formerly known as United Fruit Co. The United Fruit Company (later the United Brands Company) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown o ...

, the parent company of Chiquita Bananas, after the suicide of its owner Eli M. Black. In 1981, the Milsteins stripped the

New York Biltmore Hotel The New York Biltmore Hotel was a luxury hotel at 335 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The hotel was developed by the New York Central Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and operated from 1913 to 1981 ...

down to its steel structure and reclad the frame in granite, despite the building's landmark status and concerted protests by preservationists, in order to fashion a new headquarters for Bank of America.The New York Times: "Retaining Order to Block Biltmore Demolition Expires
August 19, 1981 In 1986, the Milsteins acquired the

Emigrant Savings Bank Emigrant Bank (formerly Emigrant Savings Bank) is a private American financial institution. It was the ninth-largest privately-owned bank in the United States in 2012, with assets of $8.1 billion. As of June 2021, it has assets of $5.75 billion, ...

, which they built into the largest privately owned bank in the country. In 1986, they founded Liberty Cable Co. In 1989, the Milstein family acquired Douglas Elliman-Gibbons & Ives residential real estate brokerage from Edwin J. Gould and Lawrence O. McGauley. They hired new brokers and expanded its geography from the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

to the entire city. At the time of purchase Douglas Elliman had 10% of the New York City brokerage market and managed 15,000 apartments. His nephew,

Howard Milstein Howard Philip Milstein (born ) is an American businessman. Milstein is chairman, president and chief executive officer of New York Private Bank & Trust and its operating bank, Emigrant Bank. He served as chairman of the New York State Thruway ...

served as Chairman for ten years and built the brand to a 40% share of the brokerage market and over 50,000 apartments managed. Douglas Elliman was sold to Insignia Financial Group in two transactions for a total sum of $85 million: the management division was sold in 1995 and the brokerage division was sold in 1999. Howard and his father Paul did not inform Seymour about the transaction indicating that they were not required to do so as their side of the family had an aggregate 60% ownership of the partnership (20% by Paul Milstein and 10% with each of Paul's children). This led to a deterioration of the relationship between the two elder brothers, eventually leading to litigation and the unwinding of their long business partnership. Through various family controlled entities, the Milsteins built or bought residential properties with more than 50,000 apartments, 8,000 hotel rooms and of office space.Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation: "CETV Profile of Howard P. Milstein"
October 26, 2012

Philanthropy

Milstein funded the Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center at

NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (abbreviated as NYP) is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City. It is the primary teaching hospital for Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The hospi ...

/Columbia Medical Center. Milstein was on the board of the then Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital and remained through the 1998 merger with New York Hospital. Seymour Milstein's early insights into the critical importance of interferons led him to Sidney Pestka, one of the scientists at the forefront of interferon research and an active member of the former ISICR (International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research), now known as the ICIS
International Cytokine & Interferon Society
Milstein's interest in fostering continued investigations in this emerging field, and his family's tradition of support for organizations dedicated to patient care and scientific research, motivated him and his wife Vivian to establish The Milstein Awards in 1988, two years after interferon was first approved for the treatment of hairy cell leukemia. The Seymour & Vivian Milstein Award for Excellence in Interferon and Cytokine Research, commonly known as The Milstein Award, recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to interferon and cytokine research, either in a basic or applied field. Many of these achievements have led to the advancement of human health. Milstein's son Philip continues to support this award, along wit
The Milstein Young Investigator Awards
which recognize the work of individuals who have made an impact on interferon and cytokine research early in their careers, an
The Milstein Travel Awards
which give those who may not otherwise be able to attend the Annual Meeting of the ICIS an opportunity to share the most current interferon and cytokine knowledge with peers around from the world.

Personal life and death

In 1945, Milstein married Vivian Leiner. They had two children: Constance Milstein, who is married to Saïd Abu-Kaud; and Philip L. Milstein, who is married to Cheryl Sue Glicker.
April 20, 1986 In 2001, Seymour Milstein died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. Upon his death, the remaining partnership agreements between him and his brother were unwound.Forbes: "Kickin' Cousins - the death of a real estate mogul adds fuel to a family feud. It’s cheaper to play nice" by Joanne Gordon
November 26, 2001 The ownership structure underlying all the partnerships was set up with Paul and Seymour each with a 20% share; and the six nieces and nephews (the four children of Paul and the two children of Seymour) with 10% each. An acrimonious legal tussle resulted between the two sides of the family with Paul's side claiming majority control since the sum of their interest was 60%.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milstein, Seymour 1920 births 2001 deaths American bankers American billionaires American construction businesspeople American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American businesspeople in real estate Businesspeople from New York City New York University alumni Deaths from pneumonia in New York City Philanthropists from New York (state) 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews