Stanley Cayre, the eldest of three Cayre brothers who turned their fortune in a home video company into a real estate and apparel empire in New York City and beyond, has died.
A funeral was held on Sunday, October 5, at Magen David Congregation in Brooklyn, according to a notice from Ohel Moshe Synagogue in Manhattan. No cause of death was provided. Cayre’s age at the time of his death was also not provided, but records show he was 89 years old.
Stanley ran apparel company The Cayre Group with his eldest sons. Stanley’s youngest son, Bobby Cayre, founded Aurora Capital Associates and built the company into a major landlord with luxury properties in the Meatpacking District and Soho.
Part of one of the most prominent families in New York’s Syrian Jewish community, Stanley, Kenneth and Joseph Cayre have remained under the radar and rarely speak to the press.
The Cayre family business started with a Miami Beach souvenir shop Stanley’s father ran in the 1950s, where the brothers worked. Joseph Cayre told The Real Deal in 2008, the job was initially essential for the family to survive financially, but eventually led to much of his future business success.
“You would sell a lot of stuff, but you were really selling yourself,” he said.
The Cayres launched various businesses, including factories that made pantyhose and eight-track cassette tapes, before charting a path in the entertainment industry.
In 1974, Stanley and his brothers founded Salsoul Records, a label credited with releasing the first available 12-inch disco disc. They later started a home video company, Good Times Entertainment, that distributed fitness videos and titles deemed “mockbusters.” In GoodTimes’ version of “The Little Mermaid,” an aquatic princess, Lena, sets her sights on Prince Stefan.
Video game subsidiary GT Interactive went public in 1995 amid a wave of popularity of first-person shooter games such as Doom, Mortal Kombat III, and Total Annihilation. It raised $140 million in its initial public offering and was acquired by Infogrames Entertainment in 1999.
The three brothers divested from GoodTimes and started their own private family offices. Stanley, along with his eldest sons Jack, Amin and David, founded The Cayre Group, a wholesale apparel company focusing on baby, kids, and women’s apparel.
Kenneth started Treasure Island Storage, which grew to one of New York’s largest privately held self-storage companies.
Joseph founded Midtown Equities, a real estate investment firm known for deals like the 2012 purchase of Soho House and investing in the Battery Maritime Building’s repositioning to Casa Cipriani in 2018. Midtown Equities was also involved in the World Trade Center development with Silverstein Properties and Goldman Sachs.
Stanley was the husband of Frieda Cayre and the father of five children, Jack Cayre, Amin Cayre, David Cayre, Bobby Cayre and Grace Shalom, according to the notice from Ohel Moshe.
Cayre Group and various members of the Cayre family did not return a request for a comment.
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