{{Short description|American businessman}} {{Infobox person | name = Samuel J. LeFrak | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = February 12, 1918 | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York | death_date = {{death date and age|2003|04|16|1918|02|12}} | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = | education = B.A. University of Maryland, College Park | occupation = Real estate developer<br> Record producer | spouse = Ethel Stone | parents = | children = Denise LeFrak Calicchio<br> Richard LeFrak<br> Francine LeFrak Friedberg<br> Jacqueline LeFrak Kosinski | networth = }}
'''Samuel J. LeFrak''' (February 12, 1918 – April 16, 2003) was an American real estate tycoon. He was a noted landlord who chaired a private building firm, the '''LeFrak Organization''', which was ranked 45th on the ''Forbes'' list of top 500 private companies.<ref name="REweekly">{{cite news|title=A Family Affair - Brief Article |publisher=Real Estate Weekly |date=April 4, 2001 |author=Chapman, Parke |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3601/is_35_47/ai_73464248}}</ref> The development firm is best known for major development projects in Battery Park City; LeFrak City in Queens; and Newport, Jersey City.
==Biography== LeFrak was born in Manhattan, New York, to Harry (Harris) Lefrak and the former Sarah Schwartz, who had originated in Slutsk,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/slutsk/slu-xxv.html|title=Slutsk, Belarus (page XXV)|website=www.jewishgen.org|access-date=2019-11-26}}</ref> near Minsk, in Belarus (then Russia).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/slutsk/slu409.html|title=Slutsk, Belarus (pages 409-419)|website=www.jewishgen.org|access-date=2019-11-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/17/nyregion/samuel-j-lefrak-master-of-mass-housing-dies-at-85.html|title=Samuel J. LeFrak, Master of Mass Housing, Dies at 85|last=Oser|first=Alan S.|date=2003-04-17|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-11-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>Ancestry.com indexes passenger arrival in NYC from Hamburg, Germany, on January 5, 1905, of father Aron Lefra(c)k, pointer (mason or glazier) by trade, with sons Mordechai and Hirsch, previously residing in Slutsk.</ref> He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush, Brooklyn.<ref>Boyer, David. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04EED8143AF932A25750C0A9679C8B63 "NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: FLATBUSH; Grads Hail Erasmus as It Enters a Fourth Century"], ''The New York Times'', March 11, 2001. Accessed December 1, 2007.</ref> He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1940,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wnyc.org/books/1955 |publisher=WNYC |title=Reporting Back: Notes on Journalism |accessdate=2006-04-14 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20051212182152/http://www.wnyc.org/books/1955 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2005-12-12}}</ref> with the University's LeFrak Hall named for him. While at Maryland, he was a brother in the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity.
In the early 1970s he was sued by the federal government for housing discrimination; the case was resolved in a January 28, 1971 agreement.<ref>Morris Kaplan, [https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/16/archives/major-landlord-accused-of-antiblack-bias-in-city-us-accuses-major.html "Major Landlord Accused Of Antiblack Bias in City"], ''New York Times'', October 16, 1973, p. 1.</ref>
In 1975, he co-founded a small recording and publishing company, The Entertainment Company, with his then son-in-law Martin Bandier and Charles Koppelman.<ref name="NYTTurning">[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/business/23marty.html?pagewanted=all "Turning Music Into Dollars at Sony/ATV,"] ''New York Times'', August 23, 2009.</ref> The company recorded "Groovin'" by the Rascals, "Here You Come Again" by Dolly Parton, "My Heart Belongs to Me" by Barbra Streisand, Streisand and Donna Summer's duet, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", "By The Time I Get to Phoenix" by Glen Campbell, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" by Diana Ross, "Love Will Keep Us Together" by the Captain & Tennille, and the soundtrack album to the television series ''Fame''.<ref name=NYTTurning /> In 1984, the relationship was dissolved after Bandier divorced LeFrak's daughter.<ref name=NYTTurning />
In 1988, LeFrak was honored by the United Nations, along with former President Jimmy Carter, for global contributions through Habitat International.
==Personal life== LeFrak and Ethel Stone married in 1941. They had four children:<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |date=2003-04-18 |title=Paid Notice: Deaths LEFRAK, SAMUEL J. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/18/classified/paid-notice-deaths-lefrak-samuel-j.html |access-date=2026-03-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Oser|first=Alan S.|date=2003-04-17|title=Samuel J. LeFrak, Master of Mass Housing, Dies at 85 (Published 2003)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/17/nyregion/samuel-j-lefrak-master-of-mass-housing-dies-at-85.html|access-date=2021-02-16|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Denise LeFrak Calicchio; philanthropist formerly married to music industry executive Martin Bandier<ref name="NYTTurning" /> and the inspiration for the 1963 doo-wop hit "Denise", Richard LeFrak, Francine LeFrak Friedberg, and Jacqueline LeFrak Kosinski.<ref name="NYT" />
LeFrak died at the age of 85 on April 16, 2003.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brodsky |first=by Robert |date=2003-04-24 |title=Middle-Class Housing Giant Samuel LeFrak, Dead At 85 |url=https://www.qchron.com/news/central/middle-class-housing-giant-samuel-lefrak-dead-at-85/article_d16e7df0-871b-5fe5-a149-76467a8d733b.html |access-date=2026-03-19 |website=Queens Chronicle |language=en}}</ref> Funeral services were held at Congregation Emanu-El in New York City.<ref name=NYT /> After his death, his son, Richard LeFrak, became CEO of the LeFrak Organization.<ref>{{cite web |title=Richard LeFrak & family |website=Forbes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621012751/https://www.forbes.com/profile/richard-lefrak/ |archive-date=2023-06-21 |url-status=live |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/richard-lefrak/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Solomont |first=E. B. |date=1 April 2016 |title=The Closing: Richard LeFrak |url=https://therealdeal.com/magazine/new-york-april-2016/the-closing-richard-lefrak/ |access-date=2026-03-19 |website=The Real Deal |language=en}}</ref>
==References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.lefrak.com/ The LeFrak Organization] * {{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep825|description="The Open Mind - A Modern Gospel of Wealth (1987)"}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefrak, Samuel J.}} Category:1918 births Category:2003 deaths Category:American businesspeople in the real estate industry Category:Erasmus Hall High School alumni Category:Tau Epsilon Phi Samuel J. Category:Businesspeople from Brooklyn Category:University of Maryland, College Park alumni Category:Philanthropists from New York (state) Category:American landlords