Henry H. Minskoff (May 27, 1911 – August 13, 1984) was an American real estate developer.

Biography

Minskoff was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

the second of six children of Sam Minskoff and Esther Kernstein Minskoff, immigrants from Russia and Poland, respectively. He had four brothers: Leo, Jerome, Myron and Walter and one sister, Muriel. He grew up in the Bronx. He graduated from

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

and then joined his father's real estate business he had founded in 1908. They went on to build dozens of office buildings, apartment buildings, and shopping malls 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 ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

including

1 Astor Plaza One Astor Plaza, also known as 1515 Broadway and formerly the W. T. Grant Building, is a 54-story office building on Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Der Scutt of Ely J. Kahn & Jacobs, the ...

on Times Square; the MGM Building, the Rolex Building, 250 Broadway, the Brevoort, Brevoort East, 710 Park Avenue, and 1 East 66th Street. Minskoff was a member of the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers; was a lecturer on real estate at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

; served as director and vice chairman of Gemco National Inc., and as a director of both the Sterling National Bank and Trust Company and the

Sterling Bancorp Sterling Bancorp was a regional bank holding company. It merged into Webster Financial Corporation in February 2022; their principal subsidiaries, Sterling National Bank and Webster Bank, were also merged, in the process. Prior to the Webster m ...

Philanthropy and boardships

Minskoff served as president and chairman of the United Home for Aged Hebrews in

New Rochelle New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

, New York; and as the director of the

Lexington School for the Deaf Lexington School and Center for the Deaf comprises the Lexington School for the Deaf, the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center, Lexington Vocational Services, and the Lexington Center for Mental Health in New York City, aimed at serving the deaf an ...

. He and his wife were founders of the

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...

and benefactors of St. Mary's Hospital in

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

. Minskoff also built the Sam and Esther Minskoff Cultural Center and the

Park East Day School Park East Day School (officially called Rabbi Arthur Schneier Park East Day School) is a Jewish day school located on the Upper East Side of the Borough of Manhattan in New York City. It includes an early childhood program, an elementary school, an ...

in Manhattan. The

Minskoff Theatre The Minskoff Theatre is a Broadway theater on the third floor of the One Astor Plaza office building in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1973, it is operated by the Nederlander Organization and is named afte ...

is named after his father.

Personal life

On November 17, 1935, Minskoff was married Marjorie Folgeman; they had three children: James Minskoff Sterling; Alan Minskoff; and Jean Minskoff Grant. Services were held at

Park East Synagogue Park East Synagogue is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in New York City. Building The building was built in 1889–1890. The architects were Schneider and Herter, who designed numerous tenements on New York's Lower East Side as ...

. Minskoff Brothers was dissolved and in 2008, descendants of Henry, Jerome and Myron Minskoff filed suits against each other in Manhattan federal court over the company's assets. His son, James, (who changed his last name to Sterling) is married to Carolina Somoza, daughter of former Nicaraguan president

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle (; 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980) was the President of Nicaragua from 1 May 1967 to 1 May 1972 and from 1 December 1974 to 17 July 1979. As head of the National Guard, he was ''de facto'' ruler of ...

and

Hope Portocarrero Hope Portocarrero, also known as Madame Somoza and Hope Somoza Baldocchi later in life, (June 28, 1929 – 5 October 1991) was the wife of dictator and president of Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza Debayle and, beginning in 1967, First Lady of Nicaragua ...

; and granddaughter of

Anastasio Somoza Garcia Anastasio is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name * Anastasio Alfaro (1865–1951), Costa Rican zoologist, geologist and explorer * Anastasio Aquino (1792–1833), Salvadoran indigenou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minskoff, Henry H. American real estate businesspeople Jewish American philanthropists 1911 births 1984 deaths Businesspeople from New York (state) American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent People from the Bronx Philanthropists from New York (state) 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews