Real Estate Broker Falls to Death on UES, 4th apparent suicide on East Side in Past Month
The death of the individual identified as Tom Cooper, a 56-year-old high-powered real estate broker for Douglas Elliman was the fourth suicide on the UES in recent weeks. The suicides do not appear to be related.
A successful real estate broker who volunteered with the Greenwich Village Preservation Society, was found dead outside his home on East 67th St. on December 26.
Police identified the man as 56 year old man Thomas Cooper who was found on the pavement outside 18 E. 67th St. at around 7:19 a.m. on Dec. 26 and was transported to Weill Cornell Medical Center where he was declared dead. Police sources told the NY Post that he had left a suicide note.
It was the fourth apparent suicide on the Upper East Side in the past month.
According to his Linked In page, Cooper was a broker for Douglas Elliman where he recently wrote: “The BEST part of being Douglas Elliman’s ‘Top 5% of Agents Nationwide’ is the charge I continue to get out of Manhattan real estate sales after 20 years.”
He was a former board member of Greenwich Village Preservation Society and a longtime member of the group’s Brokers Partnership, leading that group for several years, according to Andrew Berman, executive director of GVPS. “He was a wonderful person who cared deeply about New York and his community,” said Berman. “He will certainly be missed.”
One month ago, Cooper was chronicling a sale he made on an historic 1856 brownstone in Greenwich Village on his Linkedin page. “Closed today for $18.5M in Greenwich Village, NYC!” he wrote at the time.
He also posted that he landed the listing for The Police Building at 240 Center St. The home which, listed for $3.7 million, was owned by Meghan Ellison, a filmmaker and the daughter of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, according to the International Business Times.
It was only one year earlier that he had been welcomed back to Douglas Elliman, where had worked earlier his career by CEO CEO Scott Durkin. On Dec. 27, Durkin released a statement which read: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our dear friend and colleague.”
In an incident two weeks earlier on Dec. 16th, Allina Pagie, a 35-year-old mom of two, was found dead in a reported suicide at 1775 York Ave., not far from Gracie Mansion.
On November 13, a 47 year-old man plunged from the 16th floor of another luxury apartment building, this one located on East End Ave. and 81st St.
Another likely suicide occurred in Central Park around Dec. 11, with police discovering a 36 year-old with stab wounds–in a playground–near E. 62nd St. and Central Drive.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
“He was a wonderful person who cared deeply about New York and his community. He will certainly be missed.” Andrew Berman, executive director of Greenwich Village Preservation Society on the death of Tom Cooper, who was a GVPS volunteer.