Seymour Milstein

Milstein was born to a Jewish family^[1] in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx.^[2] His father was Morris Milstein, an immigrant from Zhytomyr, Ukraine (in what was then the Russian Empire) who started out as a floor scraper. In 1919, Morris founded the Circle Floor Company, Inc., a wood flooring business.^[3] Later in 1945, his father also founded the Mastic Tile Company, a vinyl floor tile manufacturer.^[4]

In 1941, Milstein graduated from New York University. Soon after, he began working for his father's Mastic Tile Company, and became its president in 1955. Milstein's brother, Paul Milstein, became president of the Circle Floor Company in 1961.^[2][5] In 1959, Mastic Tile was sold to Ruberoid for $24 million.^[5] Circle Floor expanded into floor tiles, acoustical ceilings, and drywall construction^[5] and won contracts to install flooring in several New York landmarks including Rockefeller Center, the United Nations Building,^[2] and both John F Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia Airport.^[6] By 1966, Circle Floor had become the largest subcontractor of floor, wall and ceiling construction in the United States.^[5]

In the late 1950s, Milstein and his brother Paul founded Milstein Properties and branched out into real estate.^[1] Paul was the aggressive frontman and deal-maker while Seymour was the contemplative financier who preferred to work behind the scenes.^[7] This difference is temperament led them to be coined "the diplomat and the barbarian."^[8] In 1964, they completed their first large real estate development, the 34-story, 680-unit Dorchester Towers on the Upper West Side.^[5][2][1][9] Circle Floor Company was sold to Kinney Parking Company (then run by Steve Ross) in 1964 for $15 million while Paul remained as manager of the unit 1971.^[5]

From 1964 to 1973, Seymour Milstein was the chairman of the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center.^[10]

In 1974, the Milsteins entered the mining and energy sectors,^[11] acquiring United Brands, the parent company of Chiquita Bananas,^[11] after the suicide of its owner Eli M. Black.^[5] In 1981, the Milsteins stripped the New York Biltmore Hotel down to its steel structure and reclad the frame in granite, despite the building's landmark status and concerted protests by preservationists, in order to fashion a new headquarters for Bank of America.^[12][5] In 1986, the Milsteins acquired the Emigrant Savings Bank,^[11] which they built into the largest privately owned bank in the country.^[13][11] In 1986, they founded Liberty Cable Co.^[11]

In 1989, the Milstein family acquired Douglas Elliman-Gibbons & Ives residential real estate brokerage from Edwin J. Gould and Lawrence O. McGauley.^[3] They hired new brokers and expanded its geography from the Upper East Side to the entire city.^[3] At the time of purchase Douglas Elliman had 10% of the New York City brokerage market and managed 15,000 apartments. His nephew, Howard Milstein served as Chairman for ten years and built the brand to a 40% share of the brokerage market and over 50,000 apartments managed. Douglas Elliman was sold to Insignia Financial Group in two transactions for a total sum of $85 million:^[3] the management division was sold in 1995^[14] and the brokerage division was sold in 1999.^[11][3] Howard and his father Paul did not inform Seymour about the transaction indicating that they were not required to do so as their side of the family had an aggregate 60% ownership of the partnership (20% by Paul Milstein and 10% with each of Paul's children).^[8] This led to a deterioration of the relationship between the two elder brothers, eventually leading to litigation and the unwinding of their long business partnership.^[8]

Through various family controlled entities, the Milsteins built or bought residential properties with more than 50,000 apartments, 8,000 hotel rooms and 20,000,000 square feet (1,900,000 m²) of office space.^[11]