Sol Forman (July 1, 1903 – November 22, 2001) was an American restaurateur who owned Peter Luger Steak House.

Biography

Forman was born on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

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 ...

around July 1, 1903. He dropped out of high school to support his family and formed a partnership with his brother and sister to start a metalware business called Forman Family, which was located across the street from Peter Luger Steak House. Forman became a frequent customer of the steakhouse and bought the restaurant at auction as the only bidder after it was forced to close in 1950 due to declining sales. Forman helped revive the ailing steakhouse and transformed it into one of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

's most well-known steakhouses. He continue to run the restaurant after he closed his metalware business in the 1980s. He opened a branch of the steakhouse on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

1961.

Personal life

Forman lived in

Flatbush, Brooklyn Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park to the nort ...

until his death. He died on November 22, 2001, at 98 years old. He passed on ownership to his daughters, Marilyn Spiera and Amy Rubenstein, who run the business along with Spiera's daughter Jody Storch. All of his children graduated from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

. His daughter, Elissa "Ellie" Cullman, is married to Edgar M. Cullman, Jr., son of Edgar M. Cullman, who owned the

General Cigar Company General Cigar Company is the largest manufacturer of premium cigars in the world. It is a subsidiary of Scandinavian Tobacco Group with North American headquarters located in Richmond, Virginia. Company history In 1961 General Cigar, which was ...

. His other daughter, Amy Rubenstein, was married to public relations expert Howard J. Rubenstein until his death in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forman, Sol 1903 births 2001 deaths American restaurateurs Businesspeople from New York City