Tamir Sapir

Tamir Sapir (born Temur Sepiashvili, ; 1946/1947 – September 24, 2014) was a Georgian-born, Georgian-American businessman, real estate developer and investor. He was the founder of the Sapir Organization, a real estate investment firm based in New York City. Sapir originally made his fortune trading oil and fertilizers with the Soviet Union during the 1980s. He became a billionaire in 2002, with his wealth peaking in 2007 at US$2 billion, according to Forbes. His father was a major in the Soviet Army. He then opened an electronics store with fellow immigrant Sam Kislin, Joy Lud International Distributors on Fifth Avenue, catering primarily to familiar clientele. Joy-Lud became one of the most successful television wholesalers in the entirety of New York City, with then-hotelier Donald Trump awarding them the contract for guestroom TVs for his first three hotels.

Sapir made contacts with the Soviet contingent to the United Nations in New York, and started trading electronics, clothing, and footwear for exclusive rights to sell Soviet oil and oil products which he then sold to American companies. Investing the profits in Manhattan real estate in the 1990s, which was then in a slump, Sapir has been referred to as America's "billionaire cabbie".

Sapir brought a lawsuit in Russia against a Moscow oil refinery after it violated the terms of a contract by failing to transfer oil products for delivered equipment. Sapir won the case in 2005, but received none of the $28 million the Moscow company was ordered to pay.

Sapir was a financier and development partner for the construction of the Trump SoHo in Manhattan in 2006.

Sapir Organization In 2006, Sapir named his son Alex the chairman and president of the Sapir Organization.

Personal life Sapir was married twice. His first marriage to Bella Sapir ended in divorce. He had five children: Ruth Sapir Barinstein (born 1973), Zina (born 1974), Alex (born 1980), Zita, and Eli. His second wife was Elena Ponomareva. He died on September 26, 2014, aged 67. Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, friends of the couple, were invited to the June 1, 2008 bris of their infant son.

Sapir's three-mansion estate, The Fountains, was an expanded version of a 1928 mansion. It is located at 26 Pond Road, Great Neck, New York. It is currently for sale at an asking price of $55 million.