PHILADELPHIA, PA – OCTOBER 13: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz hosts a safer streets community discussion at Galdos Catering and Entertainment on October 13, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the November general election, Oz faces Democratic Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
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Apartment mogul Richard Kurtz says he’s giving to Oz and other Republican candidates not because of the economy but to keep his tenants safe.
A Florida resident with longstanding ties to New Jersey, apartment mogul Richard Kurtz has given at least $232,500 in support of Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz’s Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
In August, Kurtz gave $5,000 to the pro-Oz Dose Of Reality, Optimism and Zeal PAC, followed by another $27,500 to the Oz Victory Fund. Then, in September, Kurtz gave $200,000 to American Leadership Action, a third pro-Oz PAC.
Kurtz made the $200,000 gift through four different apartment complexes in eastern Pennsylvania: Longview Gardens, Twin Terrace, Bellevue Court and Woodbourne Apartments, all owned by The Kamson Corporation, the New Jersey-headquartered multifamily real estate business Kurtz founded and has run as CEO for over four decades. Kurtz’s name does not appear in the FEC filing.
“I think he’s a spectacular man to be a United States Senator and I think he’s a gift to this country–a gift,” Kurtz gushed to Forbes in a recent phone interview. “In my whole life, I’ve never gotten involved in the way I’ve gotten involved here, because he’s such an amazing human being.”
Kurtz and Oz did not meet until this summer, but—“ironically,” in Kurtz’s telling—the two lived near each other for years in New Jersey. Kurtz owns two homes in Alpine, an upscale neighborhood in Bergen County, about a half hour drive from Oz’s mansion in Cliffside Park, which he and his wife, Lisa Oz, built in 2000 and still own. (Dr. Oz has said he moved into his wife’s parents’ home in Pennsylvania in 2020).
Kurtz sold a third home in Alpine–the 30,000-square-foot “Stone Mansion”–for $27.5 million earlier this year after struggling to sell it for years. All of his Alpine properties were part of the historic estate of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, which Kurtz bought for $58 million in 2006.
Kurtz and Oz are also practically neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida, where Kurtz’s $30 million mansion is three miles south of Oz’s historic Louwana estate, which he bought in 2018 for $18 million. Kurtz, who’s lived in Florida since 2015, owned a second Palm Beach home that he sold last year for $32 million, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
Kurtz, 82, who Forbes estimates to be worth at least $1 billion, keeps a low profile; his name is nowhere to be found on Kamson’s website, despite the company being his.
But Kurtz’s donations to Oz are the second time in as many years his political activities put the spotlight on him.
During last year’s New Jersey governor’s race, Kurtz bought 100,000 yard signs in support of Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli, then paid people to put up the signs across New Jersey, including at Kamson’s apartment buildings, the New York Times reported last November.
“If I had more time and energy, I would have liked to do even more,” Kurtz told the New York Times, before praising Ciattarelli for promising to “lower taxes and do the right thing.” Kurtz’s gambit didn’t pay off: Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy narrowly won reelection.
Historically, Kurtz has given to both parties. He gave $62,000 to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee between 1997 and 2001. Then, between 2010 and 2012, Kurtz gave $35,000 to the New Jersey Republican State Committee. A few years later, Kurtz veered back left, chipping in $8,600 for Democrat Phil Murphy’s 2017 gubernatorial run.
But this election cycle, Kurtz is all in on Republicans. In addition to supporting Oz, Kurtz has given $50,000 to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC, $5,800 to Vance Victory (a PAC supporting Ohio Senate hopeful J.D. Vance), $6,600 to the National Republican Senate Committee and $10,000 to the Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania, according to FEC filings.
“Security is number one and that’s the greatest reason we are giving money right now in the Republican sector,” says Kurtz. “Because we need safety, our tenants have to be safe.”
Without safety, “We’re not going to have a country,” Kurtz adds, echoing a phrase from Donald Trump’s infamous Jan. 6 speech.
Kurtz is hardly the only billionaire backing Oz. Casino magnate Steve Wynn, activist investor Nelson Peltz, grocery store mogul John Catsimatidis and former Philadelphia 76ers owner Michael Rubin have all given money. Wynn and former commerce secretary Wilbur Ross (wealthy, but not a billionaire), reportedly organized an Oz fundraiser earlier this year. Additionally, the former TV star’s wife is a member of the Asplundh family, which owns Asplundh Tree Expert, a company worth more than $3 billion. The Asplundhs had given a total of $62,200 to Oz’s senate campaign as of June.
Kurtz got his start in 1967 when he opened a pizza shop in Clifton, New Jersey, according to an interview he gave the Real Estate Weekly in 1994. After expanding the pizza shop to 39 stores, Kurtz sold the business in 1976, then formed the Kamson Corporation and bought his first apartment property, a 62-unit building in Trenton, New Jersey, according to Real Estate Weekly. Today, Kurtz owns over 15,000 apartments across 60 properties in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, according to Kamson’s website.
Between 1997 and 2007, Kurtz also served as chairman and was the majority shareholder of Lapolla Industries, a publicly-traded foam insulation manufacturer. Canadian manufacturer Icynene acquired Lapolla in 2017, netting Kurtz an estimated $50 million in after-tax income.
After selling Lapolla, Kurtz bought Wrights Impact Window and Door, a family-run company in West Palm Beach, for an undisclosed sum in 2017. That business, which Kurtz runs as CEO from his Palm Beach perch, generates around $50 million in annual revenue.
“I’m a businessman and I thought it had fantastic potential,” explains Kurtz when asked why he wanted to buy Wrights Impact (whose website describes Kurtz as possessing “a tireless desire to identify potentially lucrative” opportunities). “Florida needs hurricane impact windows and that’s what we sell.”