What You Don't Know About Simon Ziff

Photo: With wife Hope at Craft restaurant (photo taken by our humble publisher).
Title: President, Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group.
What that means: Arranges debt, mezz, and equity financing around country, rapidly expanding investment sales platform.
Most recent deal: Closed $230M, seven-year refi of apartment building at under 3.4%.
Hometown: Philipsburg, Pa.
Wife's interjection: "Simon Ziff is a hillbilly at heart."
School: Penn State, NYU master’s in real estate.
First job: Making boxes at grandfather's suit factory.
First adult job: Real estate analyst at Mass Mutual in Springfield, Mass.
How he got job at Ackman-Ziff: Answered New York Times ad for predecessor firm 25 years ago.
Takes credit for: Zen golf, suit-no-tie look.

Fam: Two daughters (16 and 18) and son (9).
Domestic chore of which he’s capable: Pruning Japanese maples on property.
Property's location: Front yard in Armonk, NY; backyard in Greenwich, Conn.
Wife's interjection: "Simon Ziff's obsessed with sex, horticulture, and Penn State football."
Fave food/restaurant: Burger or pizza at Fresco in Midtown or chicken pimento at Barcelona Greenwich in Connecticut.
Favorite movie: Field of Dreams—“I cried like a baby."
Greatest song of all time: U2's “Bad”
Favorite destination/obsession: Penn State, home of the Nittany Lions.
Startling fact: Subscribes to two collegiate wrestling websites and seven Bisnow newsletters.
Editor’s interjection: You can never subscribe to enough Bisnow newsletters.