Samuel Walton, developer of the Executive Towers, dies at 94

Samuel Walton, a well-known Long Island developer who built the Executive Towers in Long Beach, died on Dec. 18 at his home in Kings Point.

Walton was born in Poland, and came to the United States when he was 7 years old. He was raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He graduated New York University with a degree in accounting before receiving a law degree from St. John’s University law school and being admitted to the bar.

But he always had a passion for real estate, his daughter Carolyn Fried said, and in 1950, he began building single-family homes. During the 1950s and ’60s, he built hundreds of homes in Massapequa, Wantagh, Dix Hills, Smithtown and Manhasset Hills, Fried said.

In 1955, he built the Bethpage Professional Building on Hempstead Turnpike, and in 1968, he built the Executive Towers, a 276-unit apartment complex on East Broadway in Long Beach. He also later built the 300,000 square foot Melville Greenway Plaza office park.

Walton’s passion lives on in his four children, who all manage and own the properties he built.

In 1977, Walton, who is remembered for his gumption, was the lead plaintiff in a case that set a precedent for state tax law that remains to this day. In 860 Executive Towers vs. Board of Assessors of the County of Nassau, the court ruled that commercial properties could no longer be taxed at a higher rate than residential properties.

“My father was a very principled individual, “ Fried said. “He was very aggressive in fighting for the causes he felt were right. He fought to defend the rights of property owners; he was very strong in his convictions.”

“He was a respected man; he was a gentleman,” said Long Beach Building Commissioner Scott Kemins. “He was very spirited in his crusades. He stuck by his convictions.”

Walton was a board member of the Long Island Builders Institute and a chairman of the Apartment House Counsel. He was on the board of directors of the Feinstein Research Institute at North Shore University Hospital, and a board member emeritus.

In 1997, he founded the Jean Walton Fund for Leukemia and Myeloma Research at the Feinstein Research Institute at North Shore University Hospital, in memory of his wife.

Walton is survived by his four children, Stuart Walton, Carolyn Fried, Susan Tomback and Janice Genser, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.