|
In Memoriam:
Steve Rossi (1952 – 2024)
Community Loses a Benevolent, Behind-the-Scenes Presence
Battery Park City and the Lower Manhattan community have lost a patron and protector. Stephen Mauro (“Steve”) Rossi, who lived for decades at 99 Battery Place, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Friday, at the age of 71. For longtime residents of the half-dozen “Liberty” buildings developed by Milstein Properties in the neighborhood, Mr. Rossi was the go-to contact for problems large and small. But some of his most consequential work took place outside of public view.
As Howard Milstein recalls, “immediately after September 11, 2001, Steve played a major role in re-instituting access to Battery Park City, with bus service paid for by the private sector.” During the same period, he also oversaw the temporary relocation of the Liberty Community Gardens from space along West Street—which was needed by emergency personnel during the months of cleanup that followed the terrorist attacks—to Milstein property adjacent to the Liberty Court condominium.
When Battery Park City residents organized the Homeowners Coalition several years later to negotiate with the Battery Park City Authority over ground rent increases, Mr. Rossi played a central role in formulating and then advocating for a proposal that was adopted in 2011, saving condominium owners more than a quarter of a billion dollars over its 30-year term. The following year, he helped coordinate the real-estate industry’s response to Hurricane Sandy in Battery Park City and throughout Lower Manhattan.
After the 2015 opening of the Peck Slip School in the South Street Seaport, parents and staff became concerned that pupils didn’t have enough space for recreation. The City agreed to close the street in front of the building during school hours, but only if the management of an adjacent parking lot agreed to relocate one of its entrances. That lot was owned by Milstein Properties, which gave Mr. Rossi the opportunity to facilitate its use by the school.
More recently, he helped keep residential buildings running in Battery Park City during the Covid pandemic, and was serving as the treasurer for the Homeowners Coalition as it attempts to restart negotiations over ground rent with the Battery Park City Authority, seeking a new agreement that will endure beyond the 2040s.
Mr. Rossi’s reach and his impact extended beyond Lower Manhattan. As Mr. Milstein notes, “Steve was an integral part of the West Side Business Improvement District and the Grand Central Partnership, along with his active participation in various civic groups.” He adds, “Steve was a very talented, insightful, and hard-working professional with Milstein Properties for 38 years,” before retiring as Vice President and Director of Management Services. Blessed with peripatetic energy, he continued working for the company as a consultant and in-house elder statesman. “Colleagues, neighbors and friends all knew and loved Steve as a good-hearted, fair, and sunny personality,” Mr. Milstein continues. “What many people did not know was that Steve also had a passion for cars, collecting over 200 of them through the years.”
During his “retirement,” Mr. Rossi spent as much time as he could at a second home on Shelter Island (where he served as a volunteer firefighter) and also in what he described as his favorite place in the world: Bedonia, in northern Italy, where his family had deep roots.
Mr. Rossi is survived by his wife of 34 years, Anne; his two children, Tim and Ali; his sister, Diane; his nephews, Justin and John; and a small army of cousins.
Anne Rossi remembers, “in addition to frequently popping up unannounced with a new car, Steve loved to make focaccia without following a recipe, and he never let anyone forget that he ran the New York City Marathon in 1982 with a time of three hours and one minute. He was the most generous, funny, kind, loving, and hardworking man, and will be deeply missed by all.”
Mr. Rossi’s funeral will be held tomorrow (Wednesday, July 24) at 10:30am at Our Lady of the Isle Church (Five Prospect Avenue, Shelter Island Heights, New York). Milstein Properties will be hosting a memorial gathering in Manhattan to honor Mr. Rossi at a later date. Details for this memorial service have yet to be finalized.
In lieu of flowers, Ms. Rossi asks that mourners consider making a donation to the Shelter Island Ambulance Foundation, the Shelter Island Fire Department, or the CAST Center for Advocacy, Support and Transformation, in Southold, New York.
Matthew Fenton
| 
