- Abraham Hirschfeld
Abraham Jacob "Abe" Hirschfeld (
12 December 1919 —9 August 2005 ), was a Polish-bornNew York real estate developer known for his eccentric endeavors, love for publicity, $2 neckties, and strongYiddish accent.Hirschfeld was born in
Tarnów ,Poland and immigrated to theBritish Mandate of Palestine in the early 1930s. He said most of his extended family stayed and died in theHolocaust . In the 1950s, his family came to the U.S.A. He made a fortune building semi-enclosed "open-air" parking garages (which he claimed he pioneered--he would say, "Cars don't catch cold!"), and he subsequently funded a number of endeavors.According to his obituary, throughout his career he had many failed campaigns for political office, including unsuccessful bids as "Honest Abe" for Congress, for New York City Council, for
Manhattan borough president in 1997, for New York state lieutenant governor, for state comptroller in 1998 and for mayor ofMiami Beach, Florida . He did serve as treasurer for the New York State Democratic Committee in the 1960s and was elected to the City Commission of Miami Beach in 1989. His most recent attempt at running for political office was in 2004, when he ran as a third party candidate for US Senator from New York againstCharles Schumer and other challengers. Schumer won 71% of the vote, Hirschfeld garnered less than 1%.In 1989, he funded the Broadway flop "
Prince of Central Park " and a failedJackie Mason show. He is also known for his March 1993 two-week takeover of the bankrupt "New York Post ", firing editorPete Hamill , but later upon court order reinstating him and kissing his face in a famous picture. After his "New York Post " failure he founded "Open Air PM", an afternoon newspaper using the motto, "Love thy Neighbor" — it folded within 5 months.In 1998, he offered $1,000,000 USD to
Paula Jones to drop her sexual harassment lawsuit against former US PresidentBill Clinton . In 1999, he was cleared of charges he owed $3.3 million in back taxes.In 2000, for his role in a 1996 plot to murder and seize the property of his business partner, he was sentenced for three years prison, of which he served two. It is when he got out of prison he ran for Congress last, calling himself "Honest Abe". [ [http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0702/gallery.rich_eccentrics.fortune/9.html Wealthy eccentrics | 9 | FORTUNE ] ]
In its list of "Builders and Titans", "Time" magazine included Mr. Hirschfeld among the 100 "most influential business geniuses of the century."
Hirschfeld was a guest on
The Howard Stern Show along withGilbert Gottfried in 2002. He came on to talk about his time in jail, and his visions to rebuild theWorld Trade Center site. However, Gottfried had other plans. When Hirschfeld decided to go into one of his jokes he created in jail, Gottfried and Stern said there were technical problems, and requested that Hirschfeld repeat his jokes several times. Hirschfeld's radio appearance was one of the most memorable on Stern's show. The clip was featured on Stern's all-requestLabor Day weekend in September 2006, which featured memorable fan favorites from Stern's 20-year library of radio shows.He died at age 85 on
August 9 2005 inSaint Barnabas Hospital, New York in the Bronx ofcardiac arrest stemming from complications of a battle with terminalcancer . He was survived by his Alzheimer's-afflicted widow, whom he had married in 1943, Zipora Teicher Hirschfeld (who died onNovember 25 2006 ), and their two children, Rachel Hirschfeld and Elie Hirschfeld.References
External links
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/nyregion/09cnd-hirschfeld.html?hp&ex=1123646400&en=7ed14506141a230b&ei=5094&partner=homepage Abe Hirschfeld, Eccentric Developer Who Courted Publicity, Dies at 85]
* [http://www.hirschfeldnyc.com/abraham_hirschfeld.html Official bio]
* [http://www.whatalooker.com/bestofstern/Clip%20Weekend%20-%20Gilbert%20&%20Abe%20Hershfeld.mp3 Audio of Howard Stern appearance, mp3 format]
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