Stanley Chera, Developer and Friend of Trump, Dies at 77

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April 25, 2020 1:25 AM

(Those We’ve Lost)

Stanley Chera, Developer and Friend of Trump, Dies at 77

NEW YORK — Stanley Chera, a major New York real estate developer and a friend of President Donald Trump, died Saturday at a Manhattan hospital after a nearly monthlong struggle with the coronavirus. He was 77.

Trump confirmed the death on Twitter in a message of condolence addressed to the family. “My deepest sympathies go out to Frieda Chera and the family of the late, great, Stanley Chera, one of Manhattan’s most brilliant real estate minds,” he wrote.

Chera’s wife, Frieda, known as Cookie, also had the illness but has recovered.

Stanley Chera was a founder of Crown Acquisitions, a real estate agency, and owned several well-known properties in Manhattan, including the St. Regis New York Hotel and the Cartier Mansion. Crown is also an investor in some World Trade Center buildings and the owner of numerous Brooklyn and Manhattan retail assets, including the Fulton Mall.

He and the president shared a longtime bond as fellow New York developers, and Chera was an early financial backer of Trump’s presidential campaign.

In late March, Trump took the unusual step of speaking about his friend’s illness from the podium at the White House.

“I had a friend who went to a hospital the other day,” he said. “He’s a little older, and he’s heavy, but he’s a tough person.”

Alluding to the lethal nature of the coronavirus, Trump added, “The speed and the viciousness, especially if it gets the right person, it’s horrible.”

He mentioned Chera from the White House podium again the next day.

“He’s sort of central casting for what we’re talking about, and it hit him very hard,” Trump said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .

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