Who

The founder of Leslie J. Garfield & Co., Inc., Garfield is the real estate broker who helps ridiculously rich moguls purchase lavish Upper East Side townhouses and carriage houses.

Backstory

Garfield launched his boutique real estate agency in 1972 and soon focused his energies on a specific niche, namely helping Wall Streeters, media moguls, and blue-bloods with big bank accounts buy and sell pricey townhouses on the Upper East Side. More than 30 years later, Garfield's firm remains tiny—less than 10 people work there—and it hardly focuses on volume (they typically they do fewer than 20 deals a year). But Garfield's developed a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable brokers in the neighborhood.

Of note

Described as the "Dean of Townhouse Brokers" by Town & Country, Garfield is fairly hush-hush about his client list, but he ended up in the papers in 2006 after brokering the sale of the Duke Mansion for a then record-breaking $40 million. (The firm represented the buyer, the colorful real estate/oil billionaire Tamir Sapir.) More recently, however, he's been branching out. In June 2006, the firm partnered with the Brooklyn-based office/retail leasing firm Sierra Realty to form LGS/BKLYN, which has been selling townhouses in Park Slope.

Personal

Garfield's wife, Johanna ("Jo"), is a writer. She authored the 1990 book Cousins, which explored, among other things, the "taboos surrounding sexual attraction, abuse, and cousin marriage." (No indication that she and Leslie are cousins, though.) She's also the author of 2000's The Life of a Real Girl, A True Story, an "autobiography of anorexia and madness." Although two of Garfield's three kids—Cory and Jed—have been involved in the family business over the years, the fortysomething Jed currently plays a much more active role at the company and is expected to take over one day. Leslie and Jo live in—naturally—a townhouse in Carnegie Hill.

Off hours

The Garfields collect rare prints, and Leslie is a member of MoMA's print committee.