Joseph Kushner

Joseph Kushner (né Berkowitz;^[1] October 10, 1922^[2] – October 5, 1985) 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, which he bequeathed to his male descendants.

Biography[]

Kushner was born Joseph Berkowitz on 10 October 1922 in Navahrudak (Polish: Nowogródek), in what was then eastern Poland. His parents were Chana and Moshe Berkowitz.^[2] In August 1945, he married Reichel "Rae" Kushner (February 27, 1923 – 2004) in Budapest.^[1][3] Rae Kushner was also from the city of Navahrudak, and is remembered for accompanying her brother and up to 360 others to escape through a tunnel from the local Jewish ghetto established by the Nazis. Joseph took his wife’s last name upon marriage.^[1] Charles Kushner was the chief benefactor of the Museum of Jewish Resistance.^[1] In the aftermath of the war, Navahrudak was transferred from Poland to the Soviet Union (Soviet Belarus) under territorial changes dictated by the Potsdam Agreement.^[4] Rae Kushner and her spouse immigrated to the United States as Sh'erit ha-Pletah from the Soviet Union in 1949.^[1]

Kushner worked as a carpenter in New Jersey eventually running his own business which was funded by the G.I. Bill and later by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956.^[5]

The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, both in Livingston, New Jersey, are named in their honour.^[6]

Family[]

Kushner was the father of Esther Schulder, Murray Kushner and Charles Kushner, and the grandfather of Jared Kushner, Joshua Kushner, and Marc Kushner.

See also[]

• Kushner family

References[]

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