Irving Mitchell Felt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_M._Felt

Excerpt from wikipedia

"Felt was born to a Jewish family in Manhattan growing up around West 140th Street. His father was a lawyer. At the age of 19, he graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Finance and then took a job with the Wall Street concern, Hayden Stone.[1] At the age of 28, he left the firm and helped to reorganize the investment firm Graham-Paige. In 1959, with Felt as its president, Graham-Page purchased a controlling interest in the old Madison Square Garden (built 1925).[1] Wanting to replace the old Garden with a new and modern facility that was more flexible, could handle larger crowds, and provided unobstructed views, in November 1960, he quietly purchased from the Pennsylvania Railroad the rights to build at Penn Station.[2] In July 1961, Felt announced that he would demolish McKim, Mead, and White's Pennsylvania Station at West 33rd Street and 7th Avenue and build a new Madison Square Garden at the site.[2][3] Prior to the hearing for the demolition, his brother, James Felt, the current chair of the New York City City Planning Commission, resigned.[4] He formed a new company, Madison Square Garden, Inc. which was 75% owned by Graham-Page and 25% owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad.[2] From 1960 to 1968, Felt oversaw the project from demolition to completion. The project was fully privately financed.[1] Despite the controversy generated over the demolition, Felt stated that he "believed that the gain from the new buildings and sports center would more than offset any aesthetic loss" and that "Fifty years from now, when its time for [the new Madison Square Garden] to be torn down, there will be a new group of architects who will protest."[2]

Thereafter, he served as president of the Madison Square Garden Corporation when it purchased the New York Rangers hockey club, the New York Knicks basketball club, Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island, and the ice show production company, Holiday on Ice Productions.[1] He is known for bringing the "Fight of the Century" between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier to Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971.[1]"

Los Angeles Times - 9/26/1994 Irving Mitchell Felt, 84, a developer, executive and philanthropist who was the guiding force behind the latest incarnation of Madison Square Garden, died Thursday at his Los Angeles home. The former chairman of the board of Republic Corp. and onetime head of the National Conference of Christians and Jews also had been active politically on both coasts. He had been a major fund-raiser for the late Sen. Jacob Javits of New York, USA and campaign chairman in 1990 for Republican congressional candidate Jim Salomon in his race against veteran San Fernando Valley Rep. Anthony Beilenson. But it was his direction of the creation of the New Madison Square Garden Sports and Entertainment Center in New York, USA City that brought his widest public attention. It was conceived by Felt in the 1960s as part of a $500-million redevelopment project on the eight-acre site of the Pennsylvania Station in New York, USA City. It included the garden, an ampitheater and a 29-story office building. The corporation also acquired the touring Holiday on Ice shows, the New York, USA Rangers hockey team and the New York, USA Knicks basketball team. Felt also served on the boards of Columbia Pictures Inc., Sterling National Bank of New York, USA, W & J Sloane, and the Mayflower Hotel in Washington and the Plaza Hotel in New York, USA. Privately, he was a director of the Metropolitan Opera, a founder of the Los Angeles Music Center, founding patron of Lincoln Center in New York, USA and a trustee of the Joffrey Ballet. He was honered by Christian and Jewish orginizations and by the city of New York, USA when then-Mayor Robert Wagner gave him the city's Bronze Medallion for his services. Hebrew University of Jerusalem name a Felt Centre of Legal Studies in honor of his family. Survivors include his wife, Serene, two sons, Jonathon and Randolph, a sister, Ruber Leader and four granDC, USAhildren.