Richard LeFrak is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 of the LeFrak Organization.

Biography

Richard LeFrak was born in 1965 in New York, New York. He received a B.A. from Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

 and a J.D. from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

. In 1968, he joined his family real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 firm, the LeFrak Organization. In 2003, he became CEO after the death of his father, Samuel J. LeFrak

Samuel J. LeFrak

Samuel J. LeFrak was a noted landlord who chaired a private building firm, the LeFrak Organization. The LeFrak Organization was also ranked 45th on the Forbes list of top 500 private companies. The development firm is best known for major development projects in Battery Park City, LeFrak City in...

.

He sits on the Boards of Directors of the Sequa Corporation and BankUnited

BankUnited

BankUnited is a savings and loan association based in Miami Lakes, Florida. It was seized by U.S. financial regulators and immediately handed over to a new holding company on 21 May 2009, in the second largest bank failure of the Financial crisis of 2007–2010...

. He is also a trustee of Amherst College and the Prostate Cancer Foundation

Prostate Cancer Foundation

The Prostate Cancer Foundation , formerly known as CaP CURE, is the world’s largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research. PCF was founded in 1993 in order to discover better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer...

. From 1995 to 2007, he was a Board member of Smith & Wollensky. He is also a former trustee of the American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...

, the Trinity School

Trinity School

-Australia:*Trinity College, Perth*Trinity Grammar School *Trinity Grammar School -Spain:*Trinity Language School, a private accredited Spanish language school in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz-United Kingdom:...

, and a former New York State Banking

New York State Banking Department

The New York State Banking Department was created by the New York Legislature on April 15, 1851, with a chief officer to be known as the Superintendent...

 Board member. He received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Amherst College in 1998.

As of September 2011, he is worth US$5 billion. He is the 66th richest person in the United States, and the 9th richest New Yorker. He is married with two sons, Harrison and James. His wife is Karen LeFrak, a children's author. They live in New York and Southampton

Southampton (town), New York

The Town of Southampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, U.S., partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town had a total population of 54,712...

. He is Jewish.