About Elie Hirschfeld

Elie Hirschfeld started the Hirschfeld Foundation to better support the causes that matter to him, such as children’s education, healthcare, athletics, and the arts. His philanthropy, though, does not end with the foundation. Elie Hirschfeld serves as a trustee of several New York City hospitals (Beth Israel and St. Luke’s, among others) and is the director of the United States board of the Weizmann Institute of Science. He holds active roles on the boards of directors of many prestigious organizations. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center President’s Council, The Central Park Conservancy, The Jewish National Fund, and the Rockefeller University Council are a few of the institutions where he’s involved.   In 2016, Hirschfeld and his wife Sarah J. Schlesinger were honored with the Patrons of Education Award from New York’s Park East Synagogue. Education has been a significant ongoing theme of Elie Hirschfeld’s philanthropy. Brown University, his alma mater, had receiv

Philanthropist and New York City real estate mogul Elie Hirschfeld has created a legacy with his hotels, residential and commercial properties, retail complexes, and an iconic parking garage. Mr. Hirschfeld serves as the president of Hirschfeld Properties, and is also a well-respected art collector, an avid philanthropist, and a theater producer, with several Broadway production credits. The parking garage of the Empire State Building was Elie Hirschfeld’s first project upon joining the family business in 1976. This iconic New York City symbol would set the tone for the career that followed. Ensuing projects have included successful redevelopment of the landmark Hotel Pennsylvania, the Exchange Tower, the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the Gotham, and many others, such as the Grand Sutton, the Sutton Collection, and Park Avenue Court. Manhattan Mall was one of the first ever vertical shopping malls in the country, and remains iconic.   Collaborative efforts of Elie Hirschfeld and Hirsc

Elie Hirschfeld has five children from a previous marriage: David Hirschfeld, Benjamin Hirschfeld, Daniella Hirschfeld, Matthew Hirschfeld, and Jonathan Hirschfeld. He has been married to Sarah J. Schlesinger since 2011. Ms. Schlesinger is a physician, researcher and associate professor of clinical investigation at Rockefeller University. She participated in the groundbreaking research on Antibody 10-1074, which indicated encouraging clinical results on HIV prevention and treatment. The research was published in Nature Medicine, a medical journal, in January 2017.   Education has been a priority for Mr. Hirschfeld  since he was young, and remains so today, as evidenced in the generous public donations he's made to educational institutions.  Elie Hirschfeld studied at New York University Law School, the London School of Economics, and Brown University, from which he graduated in 1971. He serves as trustee emeritus of Brown University.