Seymour Durst
Born
Seymour Bernard Durst

(1913-09-07)September 7, 1913
New York City, U.S.
DiedMay 15, 1995(1995-05-15) (aged 81)
New York City, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Southern California
Known forNational Debt Clock
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1940; died 1950)​
Children4, including Robert Durst and Douglas Durst
Parent(s)Joseph Durst
Rose Friedwald

Seymour Bernard Durst (September 7, 1913 – May 15, 1995) was an American real estate investor and developer. He created the National Debt Clock.[1]

Early life and education

Durst was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City,[2] a son of Joseph Durst, a Jewish immigrant[3] from Gorlice, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Poland),[1] and Rose Friedwald.[2][4][5]

His 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.[1] His father was also 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. He had four siblings: Roy, Alma, Edwin and David.[2][1] In 1931, Durst graduated from the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, the Bronx. In 1935, he graduated from the University of Southern California, where he majored in accounting.[2]

Career

In 1940, Durst joined The Durst Organization, the real estate firm founded by his father. After his father's death in 1974, Seymour became more involved in the company. The company invested in Manhattan real estate, based upon Durst's belief that one should never buy anything one cannot walk to.[2]

While on holiday in Paris, France, in the early 1960s, Durst noticed a book on the history of New York City by a German author in a mom-and-pop bookstore. He later said, "I figured if a German wrote a book about NYC that was available in Paris, that this was an interesting subject indeed." He began to collect books, establishing a collection that came to be known as The Old York Library. Housed in a brownstone on East 48th street in midtown Manhattan in the 1970s, the library later moved to another brownstone at 120 East 61st Street. After Durst's death in May 1995, the library was moved to the City University of New York in the B. Altman Building across from the Empire State Building. It was later moved to Columbia University's Avery Architectural And Fine Arts Library where it is open to the public.

Seymour Durst was vocal about his beliefs that the government should not interfere in real estate transactions. However, his son and successor, Douglas Durst, received interest-free, government-issued Liberty Bonds under Governor George Pataki, and also used eminent domain to facilitate the family's growing real estate interests. The former subsidized the cost of building massive projects in both midtown and downtown Manhattan, and the latter enabled the Durst family to take holdout properties on West 42nd Street, where 4 Times Square and 1 Bryant Park were built.[6][7]

Durst was also concerned with the national debt. In 1989, Durst created and installed the National Debt Clock on a Durst Organization property in order to draw attention to the then-$2.7 trillion debt.[8]

Personal life

In 1940, he married Bernice Herstein. They had four children:

Bernice Herstein Durst (1918–1950) died in 1950 at the age of 32 as a result of falling or jumping off the roof of their family home in Scarsdale. It was never determined if the death was an accident or a suicide. Their son Robert has said that he witnessed the event; his brother, Douglas, has said that none of the children witnessed the accident. Durst never remarried.[12]

Legacy

After Durst's death, his son Douglas and nephew Jonathan (the son of his brother David) became more involved in the family business, The Durst Organization.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Durst Organization". Durst.org. Archived from the original on 2015-12-25. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Oser, Alan S. (May 20, 1995). "Seymour B. Durst, Real-Estate Developer Who Led Growth on West Side, Dies at 81". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Wall Street Journal "Taking the Helm to Change City Landscape" January 10, 2011
  4. ↑ Museum of the City of New York: "Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Durst (née Rose Friedwald) with their daughter" retrieved May 23, 2016
  5. ↑ Bagli, Charles V. (May 16, 2016). "David M. Durst, Developer of Manhattan Towers, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ "The Durst Organization". Durst.org. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
  7. ↑ "His Midtown Plan Got A Federal Boost". NY Daily News. 2005-12-08. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
  8. ↑ Daniels, Lee A. (November 8, 1991). "Chronicle". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  9. ↑ "Law & Order" Hands Free (TV Episode 2004) - IMDb
  10. ↑ Law & Order: SVU Is Doing a Robert Durst Episode, Hot Mic and All
  11. ↑ Bagli, Charles V. (2021-10-14). "Robert Durst Sentenced to Life in Prison for Friend's Murder". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  12. ↑ Traub, James (October 6, 2002). "The Dursts Have Odd Properties", The New York Times, October 6, 2002; accessed August 24, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Family Fortunes". Forbes.com. 1998. Archived from the original on January 24, 2001. Retrieved 2015-12-24.

Further reading

  • Traub, James (2007). "The Dursts Have Some Very Unusual Properties". The Devil's Playground: A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square. New York: Random House. pp. 241–254. ISBN 978-0307432131.
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