Morris Massry, one of region’s leading philanthropists, dead
Morris Massry, the businessman who became patriarch of one of the Capital Region’s leading philanthropic families, has died at age 89.
While no cause nor exact date were announced, Massry died in Rome, during a European vacation with his wife, Esther.
Together they were the eldest of three generations devoted to improving the region.
Albany Medical Center honored the Massrys by naming its pediatric emergency room after them earlier this year. They contributed $5 million to the project.
In 2015, the state University at Albany School of Business building was renamed the Massry Center for Business after receiving a $5.25 million gift from the Massry family — the largest gift ever made to the school, the university said at the time.
Morris Massry was born in Niagara Falls in
1929, and attended high school there. He and his wife, Esther, have lived in Capital Region since 1950. He was originally in the retail clothing business, opening the Janie Shop, a children’s clothing store named for his eldest daughter, in the 1950s on Third Street in Troy.
In 1962, Massry joined Sidney Albert and Irving Kirsch in the real estate investment business. Massry first acquired buildings near the family store and then began to buy apartment buildings.
Later, Massry and his son Norman became partners in the family firm Tri City Rentals/ Massry Realty Partners, which owns more than 50 apartment communities with approximately 15,000 units in the Capital Region as well as Buffalo, Rochester, San Antonio and Nashville, Tenn.
The company was instrumental in the development of Albany’s Park South, a $110 million urban redevelopment plan created in partnership with Albany Med.
The family’s generosity can also be seen in the Massry Center for the Arts at the College of Saint Rose.
The Massrys’ relationship with Ualbany began in 1987, when Morris became a director of The University at Albany Foundation Board.
“When you look at what we have done in the past — support for the College of St. Rose, hospitals and good community organizations — and consider the magnitude and excellence of the University at Albany, the number of students it touches and its impact on the Capital Region, this gift makes sense,” Massry said in a statement after his family gave the school the $5.25 million gift.
Massry also served on numerous other nonprofit boards, including Daughters of Sarah Nursing Home, Salvation Army, Center for the Disabled, Excelsior College, Doane Stuart School, and the St. Mary’s Hospital Board and Foundation Board.
Times Union publisher George Hearst III, who worked alongside Massry on numerous projects, called him “a pillar of the community.”
“He gave back more than he received, and was an unflagging supporter of all things Capital Region,” Hearst said. “He wove strength into the fabric of our community, and will be sorely missed.”
Wally Altes, longtime CEO of the Albany-colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, now the Capital Region Chamber, called Massry “a giant in the real estate field.
“Thousand upon thousands of people have lived in Massry homes,” Altes said. “Many thousands more have benefited from the philanthropy of Morris Massry and his family.”
In addition to his wife, Massry is survived by his six children — Jane, Linda, Marilyn, Sheila, Lisa and Norman — 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are pending.