Stephen J. Pearlman

Stephen J. Pearlman, known to everyone as Steve, of Manhattan and Spencertown, New York, died on July 5, 2026 at the age of 82. He was a real estate finance professional and a teacher for nearly four decades. Most importantly, he was a builder of community wherever he went.

Steve was born on March 12, 1944, in Brooklyn to Irwin and Frances Pearlman. He attended Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn (Class of 1961), earned a BA in History and Political Science from Alfred University in 1965, and completed an MBA in Finance and Investments at Baruch College in 1974. He served in the United States Army Reserves, stationed in Texas and New York City, through 1972.

His career in commercial real estate spanned more than half a century. He began in banking at Manufacturers Hanover, moved into brokerage and advisory work at Jones Lang Wootton (later Jones Lang LaSalle), and went on to senior roles at Trammell Crow Company, Houlihan Lokey, and Cassidy Turley. His work supported the development of large commercial properties in the United States and around the world. In 2014, he founded SJP Realty Advisors with the goal of applying his years of commercial real estate finance experience to facilitate and advise on real estate deals on a more personal basis.

Running in parallel to his real estate dealmaking was teaching, which began in 1987 when Steve joined the faculty of NYU's Schack Institute of Real Estate as an adjunct professor. He taught there for more than 30 years, and in 2014 added adjunct appointments at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and at Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business. His teaching focused on real estate finance, mentorship, and the workings of large commercial projects. Teaching his students at NYU, Columbia, and Baruch was a great source of joy to Steve throughout those years.

Outside of his professional sphere, Steve devoted great efforts to building community. He did that primarily through his many leadership roles at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan. Those roles included serving on the Board of Trustees and as Chair of the Rodeph Sholom School Board, where he helped transform the school into one of the best private schools in the City. He was also an inaugural organizer of the Minyan program that created small, lasting communities within the larger congregation.

Steve met Nansi Friedman in 1982 at a United Jewish Appeal conference in Washington, D.C., and they married that same year. Together they raised four children and made homes in Manhattan and in Spencertown, New York. He was devoted to his family and friends, always making sure that the people in his life had everything that they needed. He greeted every person he came across with his bright big smile that inevitably made people feel welcomed and seen. He was generous with his money, patient with his time, hospitable with his home, and unwavering with his commitments to his communities.

He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Nansi Friedman; their children, Bryan Becker (Masha Bowen), Alex Pearlman (John Degory), Amy Pearlman (Shai Almagor), and Kaila De Maria (Nik De Maria); and grandchildren, Claudia Becker and Rudy, Sofia, and Lili De Maria.

A funeral service will be held at 11:00AM on Wednesday, July 8th from the French, Gifford, Preiter & Blasl Funeral Home, 25 Railroad Avenue, Chatham, New York. The family will receive friends and family beginning at 10:00 until the start of the service. 

Arrangements have been entrusted to Robert M. Donaghue & Jessica M. Cunningham, French, Gifford, Preiter & Blasl Funeral Home, Chatham.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Steve's memory to support the places and causes that meant so much to him:

• Rodeph Sholom School | www.rodephsholomschool.org/giving/donate

• HIAS | https://hias.org/donate

• The Community Hospice | https://www.givetocommunityhospice.org/donate/

May his memory be a blessing.