The Gurals: a great NY real estate family.

When you think of the great names in New York City real estate, a dozen or so names come to mind: Rudin, Durst, Rose, Galbreath, Resnick, Fisher, Wien, Koeppel, Milstein, Cohen, Roos, Tishman, Silverstein and Zeckendorf all spring to mind.

Add to that list The Gurals. Guiding the emergence of Newmark & Company Real Estate into one of the city's largest and fastest growing full service commercial real estate companies, three generations of Gurals have taken their place among the elite in what is still very much a family business.

Aaron Gural is widely regarded as one of the elder statesmen of the real estate industry in New York. Climbing the ladder from an office boy at Spear and Company while attending college full-time in the 1930s, Aaron made his mark as a broker in the Garment District before opening his own company in the 1950s. After several years on his own, Aaron joined Harris-Newmark, where he soon rose to the rank of partner, and began a 20 year ascension to Newmark & Company's top position.

"During the early years, I didn't sleep more than 4 hours a day," Aaron recalls of his college years. This dedication to hard work would continue to mark his long and distinguished career.

There's hardly a position in the world of New York real estate that Aaron Gural has not held. Currently he is a member of the executive committee of the Association for a Better New York; vice president and director of the Midtown Realty Owners Association; vice president of the Real Estate Board of New York, where he is also a member of the executive committee and chairman of the ethics committee; a member of the Advisory Board of New York University's Real Estate Institute; vice president of the Realty Foundation of New York; director of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations; a member of the Mayor's Midtown Citizen's Committee; a member of the Board of Directors of the Broadway Association; and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center.

After receiving his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from New York University, Gural has been involved in the brokerage of several billion dollars in acquisitions over 50 years, making Newmark one of the largest owner/managers on the West Side. In 1977, he received the Award for Civic Contribution from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA). In the last decade alone, Aaron has been involved in the acquisition of over 6 million square feet of buildings in the New York Metropolitan area.

Jeff Gural took another road to the top of New York's real estate scene. His first job in the business was as an elevator operator in a Newmark building in between semesters earning his degree in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

After graduation, Jeff left New York to work for the State of California as an engineer on public works. Two years later he was back in New York, spending the next six years as an executive at Morse-Diesel Construction Co., where he was responsible for the supervision and construction project management of more than a million square feet of new office space in such notable buildings as 437 and 645 Madison Avenue.

Jeff rejoined his father in 1971, and soon became noted for his skills in acquisition and development in such buildings as the Old McGraw Hill Building, 10 Astor Place, 55 Wall Street, 40 Worth Street and various other major properties.

His current responsibilities at Newmark includ new acquisitions, as well as overseeing the management and leasing of the majority of Newmark's non-institutionally owned properties. He also supervises Newmark's Construction Division, which has been responsible for the interior construction of several million square feet in the past several years.

With Aaron Gural as Chairman of the Board, and Jeff Gural as President, Newmark & Company is truly a "family Business." But both Gurals are quick to point out the contributions of those outside the family in the remarkable transformation of Newmark from primarily an owner/manager to a full-service commercial real estate firm with an emphasis on corporate and tenant representation. In 1976 the Gurals turned to long-time partner Barry Gosin, now the company's Chief Executive Officer, to direct the firm's fee-generating services such as brokerage and management.

Opening new offices on the East Side on Madison Avenue in 1989, the Gurals and Gosin also began to recruit and invest in the city's top real estate talent, hiring Arthur Lerner, William Cohen, Ron Goldberger, Edward Friedman and Arthur Rosenbloom.

In a short time, Newmark doubled the number of buildings it manages and leases to more than 100, and earned a reputation for accomplished tenant representation and stellar leasing on behalf of other owners and new developments, including Carnegie Hall Tower, and more recently, the Exxon Building and the new Barney's Building.

In 1992, the Gurals had made another key leadership move: They hired James D. Kuhn as the firm's president and chief operating officer. Working with Kuhn and Gosin, the Gurals have developed a cutting edge computer system, a comprehensive market research department, an institutional management division, and corporate services department headed by veteran corporate real estate executive Scott Panzer.

But it all comes back to family, and the Gurals embody that term. It is not hard to imagine Aaron, Jeff and new addition Eric, Jeff's son, sitting around the dinner table discussing business much the way other fathers and sons would banter about their favorite sports team. For the Gurals, the real estate business has always been a way of life. And, it seems, it has always been a source of enjoyment.

"Whenever we would go out as a family, we would always talk about business," recalls Eric Gural, a 1990 graduate of Union College who is responsible for the asset management of seven Newmark-managed buildings comprising over a million square feet while still in his early twenties. "I always listened. I was always interested. I always knew that I wanted to be part of the family business."

"It's wonderful that your son and your grandson have a place to go to every day," says Aaron, the proud family patriarch. "It's wonderful to see them and to work with them."

The tight-knit family atmosphere also helps business during down cycles, according to Jeff Gural. "Non-family real estate holdings tend to disappear over time," he says. "Family run properties are better. You didn't see family-run real estate collapse when the recession hit."

"If you own real estate, it's nice to know it will be looked over by family. It will stay in one piece," says Jeff. If not, between the lawyers and the trustees, the property gets sold off. When you own as much real estate as we do, it's sad to see it dispersed. In a family business, at least you leave a legacy for relatives down the line."

And down the line there is sure to be other Gurals to make their mark on the real estate scene. Aaron Gural is the proud grandfather of ten, insuring that the Gural tradition as one of New York's leading real estate families is sure to continue.