Zygi Wilf

Zygmunt "Zygi" Wilf (born April 22, 1950) is an American billionaire businessman and real estate developer. He is the chairman and co-owner of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings and the majority owner of MLS's Orlando City. Early life Wilf was born in West Berlin on April 22, 1950. His parents, Joseph (1925–2016) and (1932-), are Polish Jews and Holocaust survivors from Nazi occupied Poland. The Wilf family immigrated to the United States from Europe in the early 1950s and settled in Hillside, New Jersey. After a brief stint as a used car salesmen, Joseph and his brother Harry Wilf began purchasing apartment buildings and renting units. Eventually, the brothers began building single-family homes and founded Garden Homes. A real estate developer, his two main family-run businesses, Garden Homes and Garden Commercial Properties, have constructed some 25,000 homes in 39 states across the country since their initial ventures; the two entities and their affiliates own and manage in retail and business property. Wilf attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, earning a bachelor's degree in economics in 1971, and later earned a J.D. degree from New York Law School in Manhattan in June 1974. President Richard Joel presented him with an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University in May 2010 at the university's 79th commencement. Zygi, along with his brother Mark Wilf, serve as trustees of Yeshiva University. He received an honorary degree at Fairleigh Dickinson's 69th Commencement Ceremony in May 2012. Career After working as an attorney, Wilf joined the family business and became head of one of the company's affiliates, Garden Commercial Properties. Wilf has grown the company from four shopping centers in Northern New Jersey to over a hundred properties, including several large malls. In addition to the commercial properties, the Garden companies also own and manage 90,000 apartment units around the country.