Real Estate Broker Joshua Garay Pledges Portion of Commissions to Pittsburgh Synagogue
“Whether it’s donating to our local church, synagogue, cancer charities or other foundations, we can all do more to help fund the organizations important to us,” says Joshua Garay.
PITTSBURGH, PA—Joshua Garay, founder of New York-based Garay Real Estate, and a grandson of holocaust survivors, is pledging a portion of new real estate listing commissions to the survivors of the Tree of Life Synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh, PA.
Garay’s grandmother, Olga, is a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. His grandfather, Joseph Garay, survived as a partisan active in the underground movement. Both are active not only in holocaust organizations, but also synagogue philanthropy.
With more than a decade of real estate transactions, including the management of a 150-unit family portfolio in Manhattan, Garay is well versed in both residential and commercial, investment properties.
“The Pittsburgh atrocity is devastating for everyone,” says Garay. “When founding my own boutique brokerage a dozen years ago, my priority was to create a business model that donated a portion of sales back to charity. It was important for me to build my own shop in order to set my priorities straight. Working for others at larger real estate firms would never allow me the flexibility to create my own path.”
Garay is committed to helping a variety of causes, including multiple sclerosis charities, a disease his mother, Carole, passed away from a few years ago.
“Whether it’s donating to our local church, synagogue, cancer charities or other foundations, we can all do more to help fund the organizations important to us,” Garay says. “In fact, I will donate a percentage of sales in 2019 to the chosen charity for any new seller that signs an agreement with our company.”