Sol Atlas

Atlas was the son of Fanny "Faigel" (née Anczkowski) and Abraham Atlas (formerly Atlasowicz). In 1959, he bid $671,000 for Ellis Island and proposed to turn it into a $55 million resort consisting of a 600‐room hotel, marina, music shell, tennis courts, swimming pools and skating rinks; the government turned down his bid.[1][2] He partnered with John P. McGrath on numerous projects in Manhattan including the 50-story 1 New York Plaza and the 40-story 2 New York Plaza near Battery Park.[2] He was responsible for the Miracle Mile center at Manhasset; the North Shore Center in Great Neck; the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers; the Essex Green Shopping Center in West Orange, New Jersey; and the Connecticut Post Mall at Milford, Connecticut.[2][3][4] He also built 200 East End Avenue, which was the first air‐conditioned apartment building in the city.[2]

Atlas was a founder of the Inter Council of Shopping Centers; and was a lecturer at Yale University Law School and for the New York Board of Real Estate Appraisers.[2] In 1969, Yeshiva University named him "Man of the Year" and received the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Founders Award.[2]

Atlas was married to Edythe Samuels; they had a daughter, Sandra Atlas Bass.[2] Atlas lived in Kings Point, New York.[2] He died of a stroke on July 30, 1971 at North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, New York.[2] His wife died in 1978.[5] His daughter is the president of Sol G. Atlas Realty Company and is a philanthropist.[6]