Zygi Wilf

Wilf was born in Berlin, West Germany on April 22, 1950. His parents, Joseph (1925-2016) and Elizabeth Wilf (1932-), are Polish Jews and Holocaust survivors from Nazi occupied Poland.[4] The Wilf family immigrated to the United States from Europe in the early 1950s and settled in Hillside, New Jersey. After a brief stint as used car salesmen, Joseph and his brother Harry Wilf began purchasing apartment buildings and renting units. Eventually, the brothers began building single-family homes and founded Garden Homes.[5] A real estate developer, his two main family-run businesses, Garden Homes and Garden Commercial Properties, have constructed some 25,000 homes in 39 states across the country since their initial ventures; the two entities and their affiliates own and manage 25,000,000 square feet (2,300,000 m²) in retail and business property.[6]

Wilf attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, earning a bachelor's degree in economics in 1971, and later earned a J.D. degree from New York Law School in Manhattan. President Richard Joel presented him with an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University in May 2010 at the university's 79th commencement.[7] Zygi, along with his brother Mark Wilf, serve as trustees of Yeshiva University.[8] He received an honorary degree at Fairleigh Dickinson's 69th Commencement Ceremony in May 2012.[9]

After working as an attorney, Wilf joined the family business and became head of one of the company's affiliates, Garden Commercial Properties.[10] Wilf has grown the company from four shopping centers in Northern New Jersey to over a hundred properties, including several large malls. In addition to the commercial properties, the Garden companies also own and manage 90,000 apartment units around the country.

In August 2013, Wilf, along with his brother, Mark Wilf, and cousin, were found liable by a New Jersey court for breaking civil state racketeering laws and keeping separate accounting books to fleece former business partners of shared revenue. The presiding judge noted that Wilf had used organized crime-like tactics to commit fraud against his business partners.[20] In September, the judge awarded the two business partner plaintiffs Ada Reichmann and Josef Halpern $84.5 million in compensatory damages, punitive damages and interest that the Wilfs must pay.[21] In June 2018, an appeal reduced this amount to roughly $32 million. [22]

In 2011, Zygi and Audrey Wilf purchased an apartment occupying the entire 18th floor of New York's 778 Park Avenue for $19 million, reduced from its original December 2009 asking price of $24.5 million while they still reside in their home in Springfield, New Jersey.[23]

Wilf is one of three NFL owners not born in the United States, along with Kim Pegula (Buffalo Bills, born in South Korea) and Shahid Khan (Jacksonville Jaguars, born in Pakistan).