Steve Ross (businessman)
Early life and education
Ross was born Steven Jay Rechnitz on April 5, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants. His father—who lost all his money during the Great Depression—changed the family name to Ross in hope of finding work with fewer struggles. Ross attended Paul Smith's College for two years and then joined the U.S. Navy. After his military service, he went to work at his uncle's store in the Garment District in Manhattan.
Career
In 1953, he married Carol Rosenthal, the daughter of a Manhattan funeral home owner, Edward Rosenthal, who operated the largest funeral company in the United States, Riverside Memorial Chapel, where he accepted employment as a funeral director. After noticing that the limousines used in funeral processions were not being used at night, he convinced his father-in-law to let him establish a separate company that would lease out the vehicles in the evenings. The company was solidly profitable and enabled Ross to obtain bank financing to start a rental company, Abbey Rent a Car.
Career
He later merged Abbey with a parking lot operator, the Kinney Parking Company, which was then owned by underworld crime figures Manny Kimmel and Abner Zwillman, and added an office cleaning business (which was jointly owned by the funeral home and a cousin of his father-in-law). Kinney was taken public in 1962 with a market valuation of $12.5 million. In 1964, Kinney purchased wood flooring manufacturer Circle Floor from Seymour and Paul Milstein for $15 million with Paul remaining as manager of the unit until 1971.
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