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Christopher Spitzmiller and David Duncan
of millions in profits and established him as a “corporate raider” par excellence. In1984, he made a famous attempt on Disney, which brought the word “greenmail” into the financial lexicon. The Disney attempt was not completed successfully but Saul Steinberg walked away with a $60 million profit on his attempt. In 1984, he was named on the initial Forbes “400 List” with a fortune of over $200 million. He had also made his entire family rich: his brother, Robert, his two sisters, his mother, and his children. That same year the already twicemarried financial mogul gave a dinner party. Among others, 26 QUEST
Mary Van Pelt and John Royall
Kamie Lightburn and Guy Harley
he invited his friend Richard Feigen, the art dealer, who brought along a friend of his, Gayfryd Johnson, a 35-yearold businesswoman from New Orleans. Saul took one look and immediately switched place cards at the table, seating Gayfryd next to him. It was a coup de foudre and they married the same year. This was the roaring ’80s, the days of Nouvelle Society. Together, Saul and Gayfryd Steinberg cut a wide swath among the dazzling crowd of bankers, socialites, and philanthropists in New York. With Gayfryd’s leadership and guidance, he became involved with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public
Henry and Whitney Topping
Stewart Manger and Kristen Swenson
Harry Heissmann and Diana Quasha
Library, and PEN, among other organizations. Then, in 1995, fate struck the charmed life. He had a stroke. He was only 56 and was able to overcome much of the impairment, though never entirely. The portentousness of his misfortune was not initially apparent, but the next few years demanded focus on recovery. What followed naturally was a decline in the man’s business activity. In 2000, Saul Steinberg retired from Reliance, installing his brother, Robert, as CEO. The fortunes of Reliance were already waning and, by 2001, the 184-year-old company had filed for bankruptcy. What followed was a mass
divestiture of Saul and Gayfryd Steinberg’s personal property. Their great triplex apartment at 740 Park Avenue was famously sold to Stephen and Christine Schwarzman for a record price of $31 million. Its contents were put up for auction at Sotheby’s, fetching many more millions. To pay the pressing debt, even their world-class collection of Old Masters went on the block. The “downsizing” was highly publicized, marking the end of a great 20th century saga of New York and the financial world. Or so it seemed. The couple moved to a three-bedroom rental on the Upper East Side. But, along with his
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Cindy Ketchum, Heather Georges and Dana Schiff