Charles B. Benenson (30 January 1913 – 22 February 2004) was an American

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

developer and investor.

Biography

Benenson Realty Co. was founded by his father Benjamin Benenson in 1905 and grew into an industry leader under his guidance, until his death in 1938. The younger Benenson graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1933 and joined his father's firm in 1937,Benson Capital website: "About Us"
retrieved September 26, 2017 during the depths of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

through which the company survived due to their lucrative lease with The

Horn & Hardart Horn & Hardart was a food services company in the United States noted for operating the first food service automats in Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore. Philadelphia's Joseph Horn (1861–1941) and German-born, New Orleans-raised Fran ...

automat An automat is a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drinks are served by vending machines. The world's first automat, Quisisana, opened in Berlin, Germany in 1895. By country Germany The first automat in the world was the Quisisana ...

at 31st and Broadway. He ran the company until his death in 2004. Benenson was a philanthropist and political donor. His efforts and views landed him on the

master list of Nixon political opponents Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans * Grandmaster (chess), National Maste ...

. He founded the Coalition Against Double Taxation in the 1980s in response to a proposal in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

which would eradicate state and local income taxes as deductions. The coalition successfully quashed the measure, later becoming the National Realty Committee (NRC), then

The Real Estate Roundtable The Real Estate Roundtable is a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. that represents the interests of real estate. It focuses on policy areas governing tax, capital and credit, environment and energy, and homeland sec ...

. He was a founding member of the Association for a Better New York, the Realty Foundation, the Lincoln Center Real Estate and Construction Council, the New York Junior Tennis League, the I Have a Dream Program, and the Museum of African Art. He was also a significant collector of African art, bequeathing much of his collection to the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

Personal life

In 1942, he married his first wife, Dorothy (née Freedman) with whom he had two children: Bruce William Benenson and Frederick C. Benenson.New York Times: "Dorothy Cullman, 91, Dies; Patron of City Institutions" by DENNIS HEVESI
April 8, 2009 They later divorced (she remarried to Lewis B. Cullman). His second marriage was to Peggy A. (née Lipson) Coudert; they had one son, Lawrence B. Benenson. His third wife was Jane (née Garcy) Stein.Legacy.com: "JANE BENENSON Obituary"
Published in The New York Times on January 3, 2014 His funeral was held at Temple Emanu-El in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

References

External links

Benenson Capital Partners LLC website
*
Records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force 1971 to 1977
via

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benenson, Charles 1913 births 2004 deaths Jewish American philanthropists American real estate businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople Yale University alumni 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews

Biography

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links