Paul Milstein (May 12, 1922 – August 9, 2010) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist.

Early life and education

Milstein 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 ...

familyBusiness Insider Australia: "MILSTEIN: The Rise And Schism Of A Powerful New York Family" by Carrie Hojnicki
Businessinsider.com.au, June 15, 2012 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 ...

and raised in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. "Paul Milstein, City Real Estate Titan, Dies at 88" By DOUGLAS MARTIN
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The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', August 9, 2010 In 1919, his father Morris Milstein, an immigrant from Russia and who started out as a floor scraper, founded the Circle Floor Company, Inc., a wood flooring company, and later, the Mastic Tile Company, a vinyl flooring company."Seymour Milstein, City Real Estate Magnate, Dies at 81" by TERRY PRISTIN
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'', October 3, 2001 Milstein attended

DeWitt Clinton High School , motto_translation = Without Work Nothing Is Accomplished , image = DeWitt Clinton High School front entrance IMG 7441 HLG.jpg , seal_image = File:Clinton News.JPG , seal_size = 124px , ...

"Milstein Opens Throttle as Builder"
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'', October 18, 1981 and

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, th ...

for two years before joining the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

during World War II where he served in the

Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...

in Missouri. After the war, he returned to the family business eventually become president of the wood flooring side of the company while his brother Seymour Milstein served as president of the vinyl flooring side of the business. Circle Floor expanded into floor tiles, acoustical ceilings, and drywall construction and won contracts to install flooring in several New York landmarks including

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...

, the United Nations Building, and both John F Kennedy Airport and

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...

. Their company was acquired by Kinney Services Coproration in 1964, with the Milsteins remaining as managers of the unit until 1971 before sale.

Career

Milstein launched the family's first real estate development projects in the 1950s in partnership with his brother Seymour. Their companies, Milstein Brothers (MB) Real Estate and Milford Management, manage the organization's residential and commercial space. The family made its mark in Manhattan as Paul Milstein saw and seized the potential in numerous transitional neighborhoods. Paul and his sons,

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

and Edward, invested in large-scale building projects that catalyzed growth, development and revival. In 1989, the Milstein family acquired Douglas Elliman-Gibbons & Ives residential real estate brokerage. At the time of purchase Douglas Elliman had 10% of the New York City brokerage and managed 15,000 apartments. Howard Milstein served as Chairman for ten years and built the brand, which holds 40% of the brokerage market and managing 50,000 apartments. In 1986, the Milsteins acquired the

Emigrant Savings Bank Emigrant Bank (formerly Emigrant Savings Bank) is a private American financial institution. It is the oldest savings bank in New York City and it was the ninth-largest privately owned bank in America in 2012, with assets of $8.1 billion. As of June ...

, which they built into the largest privately owned bank in the country. In 2004, the Milsteins founded the New York Private Bank & Trust which targets high wealth families.

Philanthropy

Paul Milstein and his wife Irma established The Paul and Irma Milstein Foundation in 1994 to lead much of their philanthropic work. They have given money to New York institutions including the Milstein Hospital Building at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital; the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life and the Milstein Hall of Large Mammals at The

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 int ...

; the Paul Milstein Pool and Terrace at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

; and the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

. Starting in the 1970s, the Milsteins provided capital to support medical research. In addition to the Milstein Hospital Building (1988), they funded the Milstein Institute for Surgical Science and the Milstein Laboratories (1992–1993) to conduct research in Alzheimer's Disease, diabetes and cancer. The Milstein family is also providing support to the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. T ...

of the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the lat ...

and

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

, with the Milstein Medical Research Program. Paul and Irma Milstein have given to the Jewish Theological Seminary and JASA (Jewish Association for Services for the Aged). They sponsored the Milstein Family Jewish Communal Archive Project for the YIVO Institute at the

Center for Jewish History The Center for Jewish History is a partnership of five Jewish history, scholarship, and art organizations in New York City: American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute New York, Yeshiva University Museu ...

and established the Milstein sanctuary at Temple Israel in Westchester County. The Milstein family have been donors at

Hadassah Medical Center Hadassah Medical Center ( he, הָמֶרְכָּז הָרְפוּאִי הֲדַסָּה) is an Israeli medical organization established in 1934 that operates two university hospitals in Jerusalem – one in Ein Karem and one in Mount Scopus –, ...

in Jerusalem, naming the Paul and Irma Milstein Heart Institute at the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower. Irma Milstein gave money to

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

and the

Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) at Cornell University is one of the world's most highly regarded and prestigious schools of architecture and has the only department in the Ivy League that offers the Bachelor of Architecture ...

for Paul Milstein Hall which is used by the university's undergraduate architecture program. Construction started in 2009. The building has an area of . The Milsteins are parents and grandparents of several students and alumni at Cornell. The Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate is used for

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one of the oldest bus ...

's real estate MBA program. Established in 2001, the Milstein Center is used for real estate education at Columbia Business School with a focus on capital markets, entrepreneurship, and global business. Irma Milstein has provided support to Bank Street College of Education, one of the premier teacher training institutions in the U.S.

Personal life

Milstein was married to Irma Cameron. Irma Cameron Milstein died on March 12, 2021 in New York City, New York, at the age of 95. They had four children: *Roslyn Milstein Meyer"Times Sq. Sale Is Latest Chapter in Milstein Feud" By CHARLES V. BAGLI
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'', April 19, 2001 * Howard P. Milstein *Barbara Milstein Zalaznick *Edward L. Milstein. Milstein died on August 9, 2010 in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milstein, Paul 1922 births 2010 deaths American bankers American billionaires American construction businesspeople American people of Russian-Jewish descent American real estate businesspeople Businesspeople from New York City Cornell University people Jewish American philanthropists New York University alumni DeWitt Clinton High School alumni Philanthropists from New York (state) 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American Jews