COFFEY, SAMUEL

Samuel Coffey, of 1709 Pitkin Avenue, has those qualities of foresight, clarity and of dauntless faith in the future which are characteristic of the true pioneer or the inventive and resourceful merchant. Where others flinch or wait, he marches ahead with the firm gait of the man who is sure of himself, and who is willing and content to play a lone hand rather than not to play at all.

Coffey has been active in the realty field for twenty-three years, that is, ten years after the time he stepped on U.S. soil as a youthful immigrant of fifteen. He was born in 1876, in Russia, where he gathered the rudiments of an elementary education by attending a public school. There was no time for education in America, for here he immediately faced the necessity of making his own way in a strange and unknown-to-him world. He became a peddler, first, then picked up a number of kindred things for a livelihood, until he came into the real estate field.

When in 1907 Brooklyn, like many another place, was hit by a business panic he had already had some holdings and interests, which, however, were annihilated by the vortex of failures which then occurred. This panic enriched his experience, has added to his knowledge of the economic laws that implicitly govern the business structure which humanity had erected, but it certainly hadn't dampened his ambition to rise, or his trust in Brooklyn land values.

Thus, it wasn't long before he returned to play a conspicuous part in local realty affairs. In the course of his career, which, as is mentioned above, covers nearly a quarter of a century, he has engaged in building and the purchase and sale of properties. His activities were carried on throughout the boro, and, to some extent, also outside of it.

Coffey is a member of the Federation of Jewish Charities; Hebrew Home and Hospital for the Aged, to which he contributes generously both of his time and money; Brownsville-E. N.Y. Hospital, and Beth Moses Hospital.

He finds his greatest delights in the spirit of adventure which is invariably incidental to his way of handling realty values; but he also enjoys the more sonorous and soothing pleasure afforded by music, the theatre, and light sports.

He is married, and lives with his family at 397 Crown Street.

DELATOUR, HUNTER L.

Hunter L. Delatour, who is an associate of Meier Steinbrink, has come, in the course of his career, in close touch with the realty development of Brooklyn, so that he is conversant with both the present status in that development, and the background which preceded it. His close touch with surrogate, corporate and real estate work has given him a close insight into the boro's growth for nearly twenty years.

Delatour was born on January 16, 1887, in Brooklyn. He attended the Westfield, N.J., grammar school, Westfield High School, and the New York Law School, from which he graduated in 1906. In the following year he was admitted to the bar. He has been practicing in this boro since that time.

As an extensive and frequent traveler in this country and abroad, Delatour has grown increasingly aware of the possibilities of development here, especially in the downtown business section, as his interest in his travels has always been centered on the business and commercial growth of the places he has visited. He believes, however, that development in residential building has fairly well kept pace with the growth in population in Brooklyn, and that any extension of the present rent laws would constitute an unfair use of legislative power.

The business growth, he believes, has been rapid but not in proportion to the advantages offered to business in this boro. The downtown section has been affected by the idea that all financial activities must be centered in lower Manhattan, and as a consequence, building operations in lower Brooklyn's business district have been far below the standard of those in other cities of lesser size. There is already evidence that this situation is being corrected, and the next ten years should see great changes in this section of Brooklyn.

Delatour is a member of the Brooklyn Club, Chamber of Commerce, Union League Club of Brooklyn, National Republican Club of New York, Brooklyn Real Estate Board, American, New York State and Brooklyn Bar Association, Secretary of New England Society of Brooklyn, and Secretary of the Brooklyn National Life Insurance.

His recreations are all forms of sporting and intellectual activity. He is married, is father of two children, and lives at 2109 Albermarle Terrace.