Early Career
Helmsley attended Evander Childs High School in The Bronx. He did not go to college. At age 16 in 1925, he began learning the real estate business, and started working for Dwight, Voorhis & Perry, where he rose from an office boy (for $12 a week) to broker to partner. He eventually purchased the firm in 1938, renaming it Dwight, Voorhis & Helmsley.
Also in 1938, he married Eve Ella Sherpick Green, a widow.
In 1955, he merged with business competitor Spear & Company, which became Helmsley-Spear and expanded his holdings in lower Manhattan. He purchased real estate firm Brown Harris Stevens, which brought him into rental and cooperative apartment sales and management; it was also where he hired Leona Roberts in 1970 as senior vice president.
He divorced his first wife Eve in 1971 and married Leona in 1972.
Read more about this topic: Harry Helmsley
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