Kushner | |
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Current region | New Jersey, United States |
Place of origin | Novogrudok |
Properties |
The Kushner family is an American family involved in real estate development. The family originated from Novogrudok, Belarus, and is based in the New York metropolitan area. After surviving the Holocaust and settling in the United States, Joseph Kushner developed a portfolio of 4,000 apartments. He left the business to his sons, Murray and Charles Kushner, who worked together before having a falling-out over business and personal matters. Charles owns Kushner Companies and Murray owns the Kushner Real Estate Group. The net worth of Charles' family has been estimated at over $1 billion. Jared Kushner, Charles' son, was senior advisor to President Donald Trump.
Rae Kushner was born in 1923 to a Jewish family in Novogrudok (then part of the Second Polish Republic). Her father, a furrier, owned two stores and the family lived comfortably. Due to rising anti-Semitism, the family tried to obtain a travel visa allowing them to leave Poland, but were unable to secure one before the beginning of World War II. After the German occupation of Soviet-controlled Poland in 1941, Rae and her family were forced into the ghetto. [1] Her mother and sister were killed. [2] In 1943, Rae and other Jews, including her father, a sister, and her brother, tunneled out of the ghetto. Though her brother did not survive, the others were rescued by Tuvia Bielski. They lived in the forests near Novogrudok with the Bielski partisans until Novogrudok was liberated by the Soviet Union in 1944. [1]
Rae met Yossel Berkowitz, a carpenter who was also from Novogrudok, in the forest. They married in Budapest. [3] They went to Italy, where they stayed in a displaced persons camp for 3+1⁄2 years. [2] As the Kushners had family in the United States, they were admitted to the country in 1949, and settled in New York City. [1] Yossel took Rae's last name and passed himself off as his father-in-law's son. [4] Yossel, now going by the name of Joseph, began building apartments in New Jersey in partnership with Harry and Joseph Wilf. [2] Joseph and Rae had a daughter, Linda, in the displaced persons camp. After coming to the United States, they had two sons, Murray and Charles, and another daughter, Esther. [5] Rae died in 2004. [6]
Murray founded SK Properties with his father and Eugene Schenkman in 1979. [7] In 1985, Charles started Kushner Companies, a real estate firm, with Joseph as his partner. Joseph died later in 1985, and Charles gave his siblings a stake in the company. In the 1990s, Charles began to donate money to Democratic Party causes, including the campaign of Jim McGreevey for governor of New Jersey. [8] Murray, on the other hand, donated to Republican Party candidates. [9] McGreevey appointed Charles to the board of commissioners for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, [5] and nominated him to become the chairman. Charles sponsored the visa of Golan Cipel, who had a romantic relationship with McGreevey. Charles also engaged in philanthropy, providing the money for the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School. [8]
Charles and Murray came into conflict over business decisions where they disagreed, including a proposed deal that Murray pulled out of. Charles was also against Murray marrying someone who converted to Judaism, rather than someone born in the religion. They experienced a falling-out after an argument during a Passover seder in 2000. Esther sided with Murray, and began to cooperate with an FBI investigation into Kushner Companies for tax evasion. Charles hired a prostitute to seduce Esther's husband, had the encounter videotaped, and sent photographs of it to Esther in an attempt to silence her. Charles was arrested by the FBI and prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Chris Christie. Charles pled guilty to 18 felonies, including tax fraud, making illegal campaign contributions, and witness tampering. He served 16 months in prison. [5]
Charles has two sons, Jared and Joshua, and two daughters, Nicole and Dara. Following Charles' arrest, his eldest son, Jared, took charge of Kushner Companies. [5] They sold their real estate holdings in New Jersey for $1.9 billion and bought 666 Fifth Avenue for $1.8 billion. [5] In 2006, Jared bought Observer Media for $10 million. Joseph Meyer, Jared's brother-in-law, became chief executive officer of Observer Media in 2013. [10] Nicole works for Kushner Companies, but Dara does not. [11] Joshua founded Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm, in 2010. [2] Josh cofounded Oscar Health, and Jared invested in the company. In 2016, Forbes estimated the net worth of Charles, his wife Seryl, Jared, and Joshua at $1.8 billion. [12]
In 2010, SK Properties rebranded itself as the Kushner Real Estate Group (KRE Group), with Murray as chairman and his son, Jonathan, as company president. [13] Jonathan's brother, Marc, is an architect. [14] KRE Group and Kushner Companies have both invested in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City, New Jersey, where KRE Group is building Journal Squared and Kushner Companies is building One Journal Square. [15] Kushner Companies filed a lawsuit in June 2018 alleging that the city gave the KRE Group more favorable terms. [16] The suit was settled in October 2020. [17]
Jared married Ivanka Trump, after her conversion to Judaism, in October 2009 [18] while his younger brother Joshua married Karlie Kloss, who also converted to Judaism, in October 2018. [19]
Jared worked on his father-in-law Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. [20] During the campaign, he wrote an op-ed defending Trump from accusations of anti-Semitism, invoking the story of his grandparents resisting the Nazis. Marc responded on Facebook that his lesson from the story of his grandparents was to renounce hate. Another cousin, Jacob Schulder, also objected to the reference to his grandparents. [21] After the election, Trump named Jared senior advisor to the president alongside his daughter Ivanka. In order to divest himself of assets, he sold Observer Media to a trust controlled by his family. [22]
The New York Observer was a weekly newspaper established in 1987. In 2016, it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper Observer. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment and publishing industries.
Charles Kushner is an American real estate developer and disbarred former attorney. He founded Kushner Companies in 1985.
Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump is an American businesswoman. She is the second child of Donald Trump, the 45th president and current President-elect of the United States, and his first wife, Ivana. Trump was a senior advisor in her father's administration (2017–2021), and also the director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship.
The surname Kushner is an English-based transliteration of the Yiddish name קושנער, a variant of קושניר (Kushnir), an occupational name stemming from קירזשנער (kirzshner), a furrier. This is related to the German word Kürschner and the Ukrainian word кушнір (kushnir), with the same meaning.
Jared Corey Kushner is an American businessman, investor, and former government official. He is the son-in-law of president-elect Donald Trump through his marriage to Ivanka Trump, and served as a senior advisor to Trump from 2017 to 2021. He was also Director of the Office of American Innovation.
Kushner Companies LLC is an American real estate developer in the New York City metropolitan area. The company's biggest presence is in the New Jersey residential market.
Trump Park Avenue is a residential building on the southern border of Lenox Hill at 502 Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. The 32-story building was designed by Goldner and Goldner in 1929. It now contains 120 luxury condominium apartments and 8 penthouses converted by real estate developer Donald Trump.
Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. White House senior advisors are senior members of the White House Office. The title has been formally used since 1993.
Joshua Kushner is an American businessman, heir, and investor. He is the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, co-founder and vice-chairman of Oscar Health, and the youngest son of real estate developer Charles Kushner. He is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law and former senior advisor to former U.S. President Donald Trump. He is also a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Trump National Golf Club is a private golf club located on Lamington Road in Bedminster, New Jersey. Approximately 40 miles (64 km) west of New York City in Somerset County, it is owned and operated by The Trump Organization.
Kushner Real Estate Group, also known as the KRE Group is an American real estate development company based in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The company has developed, owns, and manages properties throughout New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, including more than 6,000,000 square feet of commercial industrial, and retail property, and more than 9,000 existing apartments, with an additional 7,000 apartments in various stages of approvals and construction. The company controls more than 6 million square feet of commercial industrial, and retail property, and more than 9,000 apartments.
Marc Charles Kushner is an American architect, entrepreneur and author. He was a partner at the New York City based architecture firm Hollwich Kushner and co-founded Architizer.
Murray Kushner is an American real estate developer.
Observer Media is an American online media company. The company was formed through several acquisitions, including acquisition of The New York Observer in 2007. Observer Media is based in Lower Manhattan, New York City, and was owned by businessman Jared Kushner until 2016, when he transferred his ownership into a family trust, through which his brother-in-law Joseph Meyer took over his former role as publisher and chairman in 2017. It currently publishes the Commercial Observer and Observer. As of November 2016, Observer Media announced it would no longer print the New York Observer. The Observer site is a consolidation of several notable online properties, including The Gallerist, BetaBeat, NY Politicker, and PolitickerNJ.
The family of Donald Trump, former president and 47th president-elect of the United States and owner of the Trump Organization, is an American family of German and Scottish descent. They are active in business, entertainment, politics, and real estate. Donald Trump, his third wife Melania, and their son Barron were the first family for the duration of his presidency. Trump's father Fred was the son of German immigrants, while his mother Mary Anne MacLeod was a Scottish immigrant. Trump has five children from three wives, and ten grandchildren.
Joseph Kushner was a Polish-born American real estate investor and developer. At the end of his career, he owned over 4,000 apartments, houses, and properties. He was the patriarch of the Kushner family and the paternal grandfather of Jared Kushner.
Reed S. Cordish is a fourth-generation American real estate developer, former professional tennis player, and former senior aide to President Donald Trump.
The Office of American Innovation (OAI) was an office within the White House Office that existed from 2017 until 2021 during the Trump administration. Under Jared Kushner, The office's purpose was to be the liaison between the White House and the American tech industry as part of an effort to reform the federal bureaucracy by applying pragmatic business principles.
65 Bay Street is a 50-story apartment tower, originally named Trump Bay Street after Donald Trump and located at 65 Bay Street in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is located adjacent to the Trump Plaza apartment tower, which was completed in 2008. A second Trump Plaza tower had initially been planned but was delayed, and the property for the proposed building was sold several times during the Great Recession.
Avrahm Berkowitz is an American attorney and political adviser who served as the Assistant to the President and Special Representative for International Negotiations from 2019 to 2021. He was an advisor to Jared Kushner in the Trump administration, and worked on the Trump peace plan and the Abraham Accords.