Background
Born Usher Selig Goldman to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, the son of Fannie and Charles Goldman. His father owned a grocery store.
Born Usher Selig Goldman to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, the son of Fannie and Charles Goldman. His father owned a grocery store.
Goldman briefly attended Brooklyn College, before turning to real estate during the Great Depression.
Together with his partner, Alex DiLorenzo, became the biggest non-institutional real estate investor in New York City in the 1980s, ultimately owning a portfolio of nearly 1900 commercial and residential properties. At age 16, he purchased his first of many foreclosed properties by raising money from his neighbors. In the 1950s, he partnered with Alex DiLorenzo, Junior.
Together they were very active purchasers through the 1950s and 1960s and their portfolio included the Chrysler Building which they bought in 1960. was known for holding onto his properties and rarely selling, preferring instead to sign tenants to long-term ground leases (typically 99 years) where the tenants pay an annual rent to but are responsible for taxes and upkeep of buildings on the properties.
The Sol Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins University is named in his honor, following a gift of $10 million.