Lester M. Gottlieb passed peacefully on May 10, 2026. He was a robust 94 years old.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Eva and Samuel Gottlieb, German was his first language. After attending Brooklyn Technical High School, Lester graduated from City College of New York in 1954 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics. He played lacrosse for City College, for which he was later inducted into its Hall of Fame, and was active in its alumni organization.

Les was a US Army Veteran who served his county in Germany. After doing post-graduate studies at New York University, he worked as a successful executive for IBM for several decades. He later started his own business, Data Dimensions, followed by CAMAC (named for Cynthia, Adine, Mark, Alyssa, Curtis- his 5 children). He did many joint venture commercial real estate deals and excelled at the art of the deal.

Lester was a true renaissance man and lived a fascinating life, curated on his own terms. He was a lover of literature, theatre, business, bridge, travel and fine dining. A reluctant retired man, who still continued to seek out consulting and deal making opportunities. He had the most ridiculous and inappropriate sense of humor, which was a large part of his charm. He was a risk taker, he has been up and he has been down – but he always got back up and encouraged his family to do the same.

Lessons he taught his children, and grandchildren, and will now be passed on to his great grandchildren:

• Failure is never fatal – take the risk.
• There are no wrong paths or forks; every decision you make will serve you in some way, even if it is simply to know what you do not want. Every fork teaches you something valuable.
• The market is always right – a favorite saying of his – which many of us use every day in our lines of work.
• The only way to win a negotiation is to be willing to walk away.

He continued to be active, vibrant and healthy and passed peacefully after a brief illness.

He is survived by his longtime partner, Elisabeth Handelsman, his sons Mark Gottlieb (wife Annukka Ritalahi), Curtis Gottlieb (wife Lisa Gottlieb), daughters Lyssa Seward (husband Charlie Seward), Adine Aldrich (husband Eric Aldrich), Cynthia Owens. Grandchildren: Jacob Gottlieb and Becca Whiddon pre-deceased him; Carly Seward (husband Kiel Martin), Jayne Keenan (husband Trevor Keenan), Ian Aldrich (wife Riley Aldrich), Ben Aldrich, Wade White (wife Catherine); Great Grandchildren Scarlett Maher, Eva Keenan, Easton Keenan, Sharia Owens, Rain White.

He leaves behind many dear friends and ex-wives Marilyn Littmann and Dean Thompkins and maintained these friendships throughout his life.

He will be very missed.