Fred Wilpon

Fred Wilpon (born November 22, 1936 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn) is a real estate developer, baseball executive and the majority owner of the New York Mets.

Early life and education

Wilpon was raised in a Jewish family in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. His father, Nathan Wilpon, managed a funeral home. Wilpon attended Lafayette High School in Brooklyn. Wilpon was a big fan of baseball and pitched his freshman year in college until he was injured. In 1958, he graduated with a B.A. from the University of Michigan. After college, he sold calculators for a time while his wife worked as a secretary for Branch Rickey, the former president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, whom he knew from the neighborhood.

Career

In 1972, he cofounded Sterling Equities, a commercial real estate development company, with his brother-in-law Saul Katz. They built a development of townhouses in Tarrytown, a suburb in Westchester County which was very successful. Seeking to minimize their tax obligations, they purchased real estate throughout the country that had favorable tax treatment which turned out to be a boon since they were unknowingly buying property at the bottom of the market.