Abraham E. Lefcourt

Who was Abraham E. Lefcourt?

Abraham E. Lefcourt, better known as A.E. Lefcourt, was a prominent real estate developer in New York City in the 1920s. All but forgotten today, in his lifetime Lefcourt was known as one of the city's most prolific developers of Art Deco buildings. Describing Lefcourt in a 1930 newspaper article, The New York Times said, "No other individual or building organization has constructed in its own behalf as many buildings as are in the Lefcourt Group."

Lefcourt began his career as a newsboy and bootblack. He became a prominent figure in the New York garment industry when he assumed control of his employer's wholesale business. His forays into real-estate began in 1910 with a 12-story loft on West 25th Street. He built many more structures in the area, heralding the beginnings of the new Garment Center.

An entrepreneur, Lefcourt had numerous other business interests, including founding the Lefcourt Normandie National Bank, which eventually became a part of JP Morgan Chase.

Notwithstanding his success and a net worth reported to have been as much as $100 million in 1928, Lefcourt's empire began to unravel during the Depression, with his company going into foreclosure and his buildings being auctioned off. In 1932, with creditors pursuing him and others accusing him of fraud, Lefcourt suffered a heart attack in his Savoy-Plaza Hotel apartment and died at the age of 55.