Stephen Lawrence Green (born January 28, 1938) is an American

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

. He is the founder and former chairman of SL Green Realty Corp., which claims to be

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 ...

’s largest owner of office buildings.Stephen L. Green
/ref> He retired in January 2019 and is now chairman emeritus.SL Green Founder Stephen Green Steps Down as Chairman
/ref>Steve Green steps down as REIT boss
/ref> He served as chairman of the company since 1997. Marc Holliday succeeded him as chairman.

Early life and education

Green lived in

Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...

, until he was ten and then moved to Nassau County on Long Island."Different Lives, Different Politics, But Greens Unite in Mayor's Race"
nytimes.com, August 13, 2001. His father was a lawyer and landlord while his mother was a teacher. His parents were both Republicans. He has one brother, seven years his junior, former

New York City Public Advocate The office of New York City Public Advocate (President of the City Council) is a citywide elected position in New York City, which is first in line to succeed the Mayor of New York City, mayor. The office serves as a direct link between the wikti ...

Mark Green. Green received a BA from

Hartwick College Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the seminary became a four-year coll ...

in 1959, and during his time there he was a member of the Alpha Delta Omega fraternity. He received his

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College, a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It is situated on a campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about from the university's main campus in Chestn ...

in 1962. Green worked as an attorney in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, for Vinson & Elkins for several years before starting an import-export firm specializing in the sale of hair products from Asia. He later sold that business and started a travel company that chartered airliners and sold ski vacations in the American West and Europe. Giving this up, invested in waterfront property in Siesta Key, Florida, and developed real estate, but eventually returned to New York City, where he started investing in loft buildings.

Career

In 1980, Green formed SL Green Properties, Inc. His strategy was to buy Class B office buildings, invest some money to redo their lobbies, facades and add other amenities and then raise the rents closer to Class A levels as older tenants moved out. This strategy was successful, and SL Green Realty Corp. went public in 1997, trading on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

under the

stock ticker Ticker tape was the earliest electrical dedicated financial communications medium, transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines, in use from around 1870 to 1970. It consisted of a paper strip that ran through a machine called a sto ...

of SLG. The company was the first REIT to be focused solely on Manhattan office properties."Stephen Green & Jeff Sutton Buy Out 650 Fifth Avenue Tenant Juicy Couture for $51 Million"
jewishbusinessnews.co, November 21, 2013. According to the SL Green Realty Corp. website, the company has investment interests in 77 Manhattan office buildings comprising nearly 40 million square feet of space. In 2007, he bought Air America radio network and appointed his brother Mark Green as the network's president.

Personal life

Green married Sandra Elaine Turboff (now Sandy Garfunkel) on June 21, 1961. They had three sons, Daniel Eric, Gary Michael, and Scott Tucker Green. Stephen L. Green's grandson is Luke Green. Luke Green is currently a Junior at the Williston Northampton School. Green is now married to Nancy Ann Peck, who runs Nancy Peck & Co, an interior design company. Nancy has a son by a previous marriage, Jonathan Peck. Green is Jewish and participated in the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

and 1989 Maccabiah Games in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, winning a bronze medal in squash in 1985.

Philanthropy

Green made the lead gift toward fundraising efforts for the $9 million, SL Green StreetSquash Center on West 115th Street in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

, which opened in 2008.Grand Opening of the SL Green StreetSquash Center
, streetsquash.org, November 20, 2008.

References

External links

Stephen L. Green Biography from SL Green Realty Corp.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Stephen 1938 births Living people American philanthropists Air America (radio network) Hartwick College alumni Boston College Law School alumni People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn People from Elmont, New York People from Great Neck, New York American businesspeople in real estate Maccabiah Games medalists in squash Maccabiah Games bronze medalists for the United States Jewish American sportspeople Competitors at the 1985 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 1989 Maccabiah Games Philanthropists from New York (state) 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews American male squash players 20th-century American sportsmen