Who

Minskoff is a developer with a taste for high-end commercial buildings and suspenders.

Backstory

Minskoff grew up in the real estate business: His grandfather, Sam Minskoff, founded the real estate concern Sam Minskoff and Sons after emigrating to the U.S. from Kiev in 1895. Those "sons" included Edward's father, Leo Minskoff, and during the middle part of the 20th century the family developed properties like the Navarro Hotel (which would later become the Ritz-Carlton) and 1515 Broadway, home to the Minskoff Theater. Edward didn't go to work for the family business, though: His career started with jobs at Lehman Brothers and Cushman and Wakefield, and in 1967 he joined the Reichmann family's Olympia & York, where he worked his way up to CEO. On his watch, the company became the largest development firm in the world, with over 27 million square feet of space to its name; most notably, Minksoff oversaw the development of the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan.

In 1987, he left a foundering O&Y to form his own real estate concern, Minskoff Equities. (O&Y went bankrupt a few years later.) Under the Minskoff Equities banner, his first major development was the office building 1325 Avenue of Americas, built in conjunction with disgraced erstwhile Sotheby's chair Alfred Taubman. These days, Minskoff owns and/or manages close to 5 million square feet of commercial space in the city, and has stakes in 1166 Avenue of the Americas, 101 Avenue of the Americas, and 590 Madison, the former IBM Building.

Of note

Minskoff pays more attention to the aesthetics of his developments than most real estate developers, insisting that his buildings be "works of art." His biggest project at the moment is 101 Warren, which consists of a 35-story residential tower (which features a Victoria Hagan-designed lobby), separate 163-unit rental building (marketed as 270 Greenwich), glassed-in "forest" of 101 Austrian pine trees, and 170,000 square feet of retail space, which will house a Barnes & Noble and a branch of Whole Foods. Minskoff has modestly declared that the finished product will be "the nicest place built in New York in the last 50 years." Elsewhere, in a less aesthetically ambitious project, Minskoff is building 600,000-plus square feet of commercial property in Long Island City.

Board game

He's on the board of trustees of NYU's School of Medicine along with Kenneth Langone, Larry Fink, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Ken Chenault, and Jamie Dimon, among others. He also sits on the board of the NYU Cancer Institute.

Drama

Minskoff belongs to that classy subset of individuals who have sued their own family. In the early 90s, he was hired by his elderly uncle, Jerome Minskoff, to manage the Minskoff family's real estate assets. After Jerome died, his relatives balked at spending the money Edward said was needed to upgrade the buildings. Ed sued them to get back the $1 million in management fees he said they owed him.

Off hours

A major art collector, Minksoff owns works by Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning, Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, Alexander Calder, and Jackson Pollock, among others. Many of his pieces are on display at the company's headquarters at 1325 Avenue of the Americas.

Personal

The cantankerous Minskoff—whose penchant for suspenders stands out in the sartorially bland real estate industry—is married to a relatively youthful Korean native named Julie, whom he met at an art gallery. They live at 730 Park and spend weekends at their estates in Southampton and Palm Beach. Minskoff has three children from his various marriages: Mitchell (the co-owner of the gallery 33 Bond), Mollie, and Justin.