William A. Moses (1933 – January 3, 2002) was an American real estate developer, founder of the Community Housing Improvement Program, and an advocate against

rent control Rent regulation is a system of laws, administered by a court or a public authority, which aims to ensure the affordability of housing and tenancies on the rental market for dwellings. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves: * Price con ...

Biography

Moses was born in 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

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, the son of real estate owner Samuel Moses. He graduated from

The High School of Music and Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the Hig ...

. He served in the Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and is a graduate of both Syracuse University and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

where he received an M.B.A. in 1952. Moses took over the real estate company founded by his father, which owned and managed apartment properties. Moses opposed rent control and successfully lobbied the state government in the early 1970s to end rent control and rent stabilization which was reversed by the state Legislature three years later. In 1966, Moses founded the Community Housing Improvement Program, a trade association that represents the owners of over 4,000 apartment buildings in New York City. Moses believed that "Rent control is the principal reason for neighborhood deterioration" and that "more than 300,000 apartments housing one million people" would have been built arguing that landlords who do not receive enough income to maintain their buildings will let them deteriorate. He also served as vice president of the Rent Stabilization Association of New York.

Personal life

Moses married three times, all of which ended in divorce. His first wife was fashion designer Joan "Tiger" Morse (daughter of architect Morris Henry Sugarman); they had one son, Henry Winston Moses, before divorcing. In 1960, he married his second wife, Hannah Kaufmann; they had two children, Andrew Ferdinand Moses and daughter Cynthia Moses-Manocherian (married to Jeff Manocherian, son of AIPAC president Bernice Manocherian and nephew of real estate developer Fraydun Manocherian). His third wife was Bernice Schwartz. Moses died on January 3, 2002, at his home 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 ...

. Services were held at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moses, William A. 1933 births 2002 deaths American real estate businesspeople 20th-century American Jews Syracuse University alumni Columbia Business School alumni The High School of Music & Art alumni People from Brooklyn Businesspeople from New York City 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews