Kushner Companies chairman receives honorary degree

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 8, 2003

Charles Kushner of Livingston, chairman of Kushner Companies, Inc, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Yeshiva University's 78th Annual Hanukkah Dinner and Convocation on Dec. 8, at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. Mayor Bloomberg, also an honorary degree recipient, was the event's keynote speaker.

Dr. Norman Lamm, President of Yeshiva University, said, "Charles' benevolence and good will extend far and wide, and to Yeshiva University, he has been and will always remain a true friend."

A founding member of the Board of Directors of Yeshiva University's Stern College for Women, Kushner told the audience that among his donations to Yeshiva, he endowed the Kushner Cafeteria in Stern College, "Because it was where my wife and I met for the first time and subsequently many times after."

As one of the nation's fastest-growing privately held real estate organizations in the Northeast, Kushner Companies is a diversified private real estate company earning a reputation as respected owners, developers, redevelopers, and managers of residential, commercial, retail, industrial, and hotel properties. Headquartered in Florham Park, N.J., with executive offices in Manhattan, the firm aggressively pursues development and acquisition with holdings in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Florida.

Kushner's contributions extend far beyond his business acumen, for which he received the New Jersey Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1999 in the real estate category. He developed a new campus for the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in memory of his father and serves on its board of directors. In 1999, President Bill Clinton appointed Mr. Kushner to the US Holocaust Memorial Council. In 2001, Kushner was the honored by Cerebral Palsy of New Jersey.

Beside Bloomberg, receiving an honorary degree with Kushner were prominent communal leaders Elliot Wolk, Betty Feinberg, and Barry Shenkman. YU President Norman Lamm conferred all honorary degrees.