Michael Dezertzov ( he, מייקל דזר; born 1 April 1941), known as Michael Dezer, is an Israeli-American real estate developer, car collector, and

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

. He is the founder of Dezer Properties and is known for his investments in New York and Florida real estate in association with

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

Biography

Dezer was born in a working-class family in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, the son of a bus driver. He served in the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

. In 1962, he immigrated from Israel to the U.S. where he went to night school and worked in advertising before starting a typesetting business. In 1970, he founded Dezer Properties and started investing in real estate in New York City, focusing on the Chelsea neighborhood, which was then transitioning into an arts community from a manufacturing center. He focused on converting factory buildings into luxury office cooperatives. By 1994, he owned 15 buildings in the area. Starting in 1985, he purchased as much ocean-front land in

Sunny Isles Beach Sunny Isles Beach (SIB, officially the City of Sunny Isles Beach) is a city located on a barrier island in northeast Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Intracoastal Waterway on ...

as he could, much of which was old motels. In partnership with

, he developed properties there including the $900 million Trump Towers, the $600 million Trump Grande Ocean Resort and Residences, and the $166 million Trump International Hotel and Tower. Dezer is also the landlord of the luxury auto retailer

Manhattan Motorcars Manhattan Motorcars is a New York City mega luxury car dealership service provider. It is the only official Lamborghini, Bentley, Rolls-Royce North America, Rolls-Royce, Spyker Cars, Spyker, Porsche, Bugatti Automobiles, Bugatti and Lotus Cars, Lo ...

Personal life

Family

Dezer is Jewish, of Russian descent. He is married to fellow Israeli Neomi (''née'' Kerekes) and has three children: daughters Leslie Dezer Salmon (born 1970) and Estee Dezer Gurwitz (born 1978); and son Gil Dezer (born 1975). All his children participate in the family business. Gil Dezer, also a car collector, developed the 60-story

Porsche Design Tower The Porsche Design Tower is a luxury residential skyscraper in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, designed by Sieger Suarez Architects and branded by Porsche Design. At with 60 stories, it is one of the tallest buildings in Sunny Isles Beach. It is ...

in Sunny Isles Beach.

Car collection

Dezer collects cars and displays over 1,000 cars from his collection in the

Miami Auto Museum The Miami Auto Museum at the Dezer Collection was a privately owned museum in North Miami, Florida, that exhibited automobiles and related memorabilia collected by Michael Dezer. It has closed and is being moved to Orlando, Florida, to be opened ...

in North Miami, Florida. The collection has diverse types of cars including European and American

classic car A classic car is an older car, typically 25 years or older, though definitions vary.While other languages, such as German and Dutch, may refer to classic cars as "oldtimers", this usage is unknown in English, where "old-timer" refers to an elder ...

s, microcars, movie cars, supercars, and

military vehicle A military vehicle is any vehicle for land-based military transport and activity, including combat vehicles; both specifically designed for, or significantly used by military and armed forces. Most military vehicles require off-road capabiliti ...

s. He also has motorcycles, scooters, bicycles and the largest collection of

Vespa Vespa () is an Italian luxury brand of scooter (motorcycle), scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of ...

s displayed at the museum. He launched 2 outposts of his main

. In 2014, he opened the Hollywood Cars Museum in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

by partnering with classic and exotic car dealer Hot Rod City to display more than 100 cars from movies, TV shows and videos. In 2016, he spent $3.6 million on a space in Xtreme Action Park in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

to open the second outpost of his main museum to display about 200 cars.

Political contributions

Ahead of the

2016 United States elections The 2016 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, while Republicans retained control of Congres ...

, Dezer donated $100,000 to Trump's

Make America Great Again "Make America Great Again" or MAGA is an American political slogan popularized by Donald Trump in his successful 2016 presidential campaign. The slogan became a pop culture phenomenon, seeing widespread use and spawning numerous variants in ...

PAC and $200,000 to the Trump Victory Committee. Ahead of the

2020 United States elections The 2020 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Democratic presidential nominee, former vice president Joe Biden, defeated incumbent Republican president Donald Trump in the presidential election. Despite losing seats ...

, he donated $100,000 to the Trump Victory Committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dezer, Michael 1941 births American car collectors American people of Israeli descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American real estate businesspeople Businesspeople from New York City Israeli businesspeople Israeli Jews Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Living people New York (state) Republicans