FELDMAN, Philip E.

It may be said at the outset that Philip E. Feldman is not only a prominent builder but a masterful tactician and a suave diplomat, and those who know with what labor troubles the building field is frequently beset, can readily realize this man's valuable asset.

Feldman is the sort of man with whom you just couldn't pick up an argument if he were really desirous of averting it. And this, of course, counts for a lot if you consider that not rarely the unions are rather bellicose. The way he talks and explains and goes about to prove his contention is sufficient to disarm whatever fighting spirit there may be in his opponent.

Philip E. Feldman was born in London, England, on June 22, 1889, and he was brought here as a child of three years of age. He attended public school and the Erasmus Hall High School. Then he entered the realty field in which he remained for twelve years. His father, Max Feldman, an old and prominent builder, had given him his first training in the field.

Feldman has built numerous tenement houses in Brownsville, in Ridgewood, and of late in East Flatbush, where he is now completing an apartment house of sizable proportions. He has also built a number of four-family dwellings.

Feldman has always taken pride and justifiable pride, of course, in the fact that his rentals are always based not on what the land might be worth at the time of construction, but on the actual price he paid for it. This enables him to adhere to the highest ethical principles in the treatment of the tenant and yet do business with a profit to himself.

On more than one occasion Feldman has scored a triumph of wit and diplomatic finesse over this, that and another objection offered by the unions, and he is no doubt one of the very few men looked up to by these unions.

Feldman is a member of the Brownsville-E. N.Y. Hospital, the Non-Pareil Club, Madison Club, and I.O.B.A. His recreations are baseball, basketball, swimming and the theater. He is married, is the father of three children, and lives at 35 Blake Avenue.

FINKELSTEIN, Nathan B.

When the story is written of the enormous and rapid development of Brownsville, the name of Nathan B. Finkelstein will inevitably stand out as that of one of its intense enthusiasts and able leaders. For though at present his interests are so diversified and manifold as to take him out side of that section into other regions in Brooklyn and Queens, his efforts, for many years, were concentrated in Brownsville, where he rose to eminence both as an attorney and realty operator.

When he came to Brooklyn as a youth, following the completion of a High School course in Syracuse, N.Y., Finkelstein discerned the possibilities there with that objective clarity that can only come to an interested outsider. As years went on, experience and contact served to vindicate his faith in the future of Brownsville especially, and of Brooklyn in general. He has now lived here for fully twenty years.

Nathan B. Finkelstein was born in Maryland, in 1887. He received his public and high school education in Syracuse, where from he came to New York City to enter New York University. He graduated from this university in 1909, and in the same year was admitted to the bar. He then opened a law office in Brownsville, where he presently established a wide and influential circle of clients both in the realty field and elsewhere. In due course of time he became personally interested in properties in diverse sections of Brooklyn and Queens. In the light of his ample background he declares, speaking of Brooklyn at large, that values in the boro have risen as a result of a natural awakening as to the possibilities which exist here. The boro, he asserts, affords unusual facilities for home comforts and complete home life for dwellers of all temperaments and tastes. He foresees a sizable growth in business sections, shopping centers, etc., to come with the increase of home dwellers.

Finkelstein is a member of the Federation of Jewish Charities, Eastern Parkway Jewish Center, Chamber of Commerce, Brownsville Boys' Association, and the Brownsville East New York Hospital. In 1915 he served in the State Assembly, having been elected on the Republican ticket, from the 23rd Assembly District.

His diversions consist in golf, horseback riding, theatre and music. He was married in 1915, is the father of two children, and lives at 552 Crown Street. His present law office is at 36 West 44th Street, Manhattan.