A friend of U.S President Donald Trump, Stanley I Chera has died. He was in a coma after contracting the coronavirus. The Real Deal (covers the New York real estate industry) reported the death of Chera on Saturday. Chera started purchasing real estate in New York City initially as a minority partner and later as the lead developer in the 2000s. He purchased 650 Madison Avenue for $1.3 billion in partnership with Highgate Holdings from the Carlyle Group, in June 2013. He had donated to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The AP also confirmed the identity and connection of Chera to the U.S President. Trump first spoke about his friend on 29th March.
President Trump said, “I had a friend who went to a hospital the other day. He’s a little older, and he’s heavy, but he’s a tough person. And he went to the hospital and a day later, he’s in a coma, he’s not doing well. The speed and the viciousness, especially if it gets the right person, it’s horrible. It’s really horrible.” He affirmed to more than one friend who had contracted COVID-19, at another White House briefing about coronavirus response. He said, “I have some friends that are unbelievably sick. We thought they were going in for a mild stay. And, in one case, he’s unconscious in a coma. And you say, How did that happen”?
The Real Deal also reported that Trump said, “He’s sort of central casting for what we’re talking about, and it hit him very hard. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s a great guy, and he’s been with me from the beginning. Chera’s savvy and willingness to chase big-ticket deals elevated him and Crown into the city’s retail pantheon. Stanley loved the chase. He knew what the trend lines looked like before anybody else does. It’s not dissimilar from being a great hedge fund manager, someone who can see through a particular environment, a particular marketplace, and see how a customer is going to buy”.