Seymour Bernard Durst was an American real estate investor and developer.
11 Facts About Seymour Durst
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Seymour Durst's father was a tailor who arrived penniless to the United States, eventually becoming a successful dress manufacturer and then expanding into real estate management and development.
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Seymour Durst's father was active in the Jewish community, serving on the executive committee of the Jewish Education Association and serving as president of the Hebrew Free Loan Society for 27 years.
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Seymour Durst had four siblings: Roy, Alma, Edwin and David.
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In 1931, Seymour Durst graduated from the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, the Bronx.
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In 1940, Seymour Durst joined The Seymour Durst Organization, the real estate firm founded by his father.
7.
Seymour Durst invested in Manhattan real estate, based upon Durst's belief that one should never buy anything one cannot walk to.
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Seymour Durst was vocal about his beliefs that the government should not interfere in real estate transactions.
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However, his son and successor, Douglas Seymour Durst, received interest-free, government-issued Liberty Bonds under Governor George Pataki, and used eminent domain to facilitate the family's growing real estate interests.
10.
In 1989, Seymour Durst created and installed the National Debt Clock on a Seymour Durst Organization property in order to draw attention to the then-$2.7 trillion debt.
11.
Bernice Herstein Seymour Durst died in 1950 at the age of 32 as a result of falling or jumping off the roof of their family home in Scarsdale.