**Lefcourt-Newark Building**
**Art by:** Chris Hytha
**Story by:** Mark Houser
For a brief moment, this Newark highrise was a bauble in the empire of Abraham Lefcourt, a bombastic real estate titan who slapped his name on Midtown skyscrapers long before the world ever heard of Donald Trump.
Born Abraham Lefkowitz, Lefcourt came to the Lower East Side with his Russian Jewish family in 1882. He made money in garment wholesaling, then put it into commercial lofts and offices. Through shrewd deals and luck, Lefcourt built a Manhattan skyscraper portfolio worth $125 million, and started boasting he would put up the world’s tallest one next. But the death in 1930 of his 17 - year - old son—two...