Sam Eig

Samuel Eig
Born 1898 (1898)
Smilovichi, Russia
Died 1982 (aged 83–84)
United States
Nationality Russian-American
Occupation Real estate developer
Known for Development of Silver Spring, Maryland
Net worth $100,000,000 (1940)

Sam (Zalman) Eig ( December 17, 1898[1] – December 1982) was an American real estate developer active in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.[2][3]

Biography

Eig was born in Smilovichi, Russia (now Belarus) to a Jewish family.[3] In March 1916[4], he immigrated to the United States[2] arriving first in Seattle then New York City and then in Washington D.C..[2] He worked various jobs as a bellboy, busboy, construction worker, and butcher’s assistant.[2] After a failed investment in a grocery store, he opened a liquor store in 1930s which was successful enabling him to buy a distillery. Using the earnings from this business, he started to invest in real estate in then undeveloped Silver Spring, Maryland. In 1944, he purchased the Silver Spring Shopping Center; and in 1946, he built the Eig Building.[2] Eig was a proponent of further development in Silver Spring and was an active member of the Silver Spring Board of Trade.[2] In the late 1930s, he personally developed 30 housing lots in Rock Creek Forest, after being denied financing from local banks.[2] Aware that people preferred to move to places that were more established, Eig donated land for the construction of community centers and churches[2] including a Red Cross building and Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring.[5] Eig was successful and by the late 1940s, his real estate holdings were valued at over $100 million.[2] He later expanded into hotels building the Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg, Maryland in 1957 and the Georgian Motel in Silver Spring in 1961.[2] Until the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, Eig used racially restrictive covenants to exclude African Americans and other racial minorities.[6]

Sam Eig Highway, a continuation of Interstate 370, was named in his honor.[3] Eig died in 1982 at the age of 83.

References

  1. ↑ ssdi. "Ancestry.com".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Montgomery County Historical Society: "Immigration and Success - Samuel Eig" Archived 2014-10-22 at the Wayback Machine. retrieved October 18, 2014
  3. 1 2 3 Jewish Washington: "Real Estate Boom" retrieved September 18. 2014
  4. ↑ Passenger list. "Ancestry.com".
  5. ↑ Gaithersburgh: "Then and Now" retrieved October 18, 2014
  6. ↑ "Silver Spring's Jewish history 'long and complicated'". Washington Jewish Week. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
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