He always had a strong sense of responsibility and duty to provide for his family. Before success ever became something that he was thinking about, survival was the priority and the necessity for the majority of his early life. My dad was born here in Hackensack, and he was 1 of, 6 boys. My grandfather’s first job was a shoe shiner. He shined shoes for a quarter a pair, mostly judges, and I guess some attorneys also.
Business individuals who were coming in and out of the courthouse for whatever reason. This would create a hunger for him to 1 day become the man in the suit as opposed to the kid shining the shoes of the man in the suit. He proceeded through the Hackensack School System, System, doubled up on his studies, graduated a year early so that he can get out there and work and and help his, parents pay their mortgage payments. Then went on to be a sheet metal worker working for a company that made ductwork and heating and, ventilating systems for homes and and commercial buildings, and that was prior to to his war years. He then, went into the war, World War 2.
They put him in charge of making these, drop boxes that when they had to drop, goods, you know, off of a plane into an area that they couldn’t drive to, whether it was food or supplies, they put them into these metal boxes, which got dropped out of a plane. When my dad came home from the war, he went back to his old boss, and he was gonna go back to work as a sheet metal worker. There was a few large home builders that approached him and talked him into going into his own business as opposed to working for a contractor. He took them up on it and and went into his own business, and that was in 1945. The business was a family business from day 1, which included besides my my dad and his brothers, my mother was very instrumental in building the business.
Besides raising 3 boys and keeping the house running, she was also responsible for the, bookkeeping and accounting for my dad’s sheet metal business. The early days, the foundation was laid both figuratively and literally. My grandfather started out in the field building. So when people think of Alfred Senzary today, they may think of the businessman who was making deals and acquisitions and signing leases with tenants, things like that. He was very much a construction man.
After, many years of building homes, he started getting involved with larger projects in the late sixties, early seventies, and then the company just blossomed. Pat was 1 of the first individuals that my grandfather had hired. He was very much responsible for Alfred Senzari Enterprises success, right there next to Alfred Senzari. Pat started as a laborer. Through the years, my dad trained him and he eventually became our director of construction.
He just excelled from there. He built Glen Pointe, Court Plaza where we are today, Heights Plaza, all of our industrials. He was hired at at the age of 18, and he passed away a few years ago. Pat was my grandfather’s right hand man out in the field. He worked for us for 52 or 53 years, which is just incredible.
The man gave his life to this company and that was because he looked at this company as his own. In 1967 and 1972, my uncle Ben and my father David would join the company as they began what would be lifelong careers learning from my grandfather and Pat. That hands on experience has helped them grow the business together ever since. Today, my father serves as our president and CEO, and my uncle Ben as our vice president. My uncle has been instrumental in the success of our portfolio and continues to play an important role in the organization’s success as we mark our 75th anniversary.
I know that my grandfather would be incredibly proud to see that Alfred Senseri Enterprises, the company he dedicated his life to build, has remained a family business and has stayed true to the values and the principles on which he founded the organization. 1 of the most important things we need to recognize as an organization celebrating our 75th year in operation are our employees. My dad treated each and every employee with respect and and equally, whether you were sweeping floors or you were, you know, a a construction superintendent or or a CFO, he treated everybody equally. Because he started at the bottom himself, so he always respected, each and every person that worked for him. I cannot say enough good things about the incredible people that have come through this office, that are currently at this company, and those who are no longer with us.
Without them, there is no Alfred since Aerie Enterprises. We owe everything to them. We are long term players in this business. Unlike other companies that they build these projects, fill them up, and then flip them to, to an investor, we retain ownership of our properties. It’s just so incredible to see something created out of nothing.
We’ve always known that whatever we built, it’s gonna be either our problem or our success for many years to come. So if we’re gonna build it, we need to build it right. I I think my dad, would be very pleased with where the company has gone since since he’s he’s left us. Visiting our our properties, whether it be Port Plaza Glen Pointe, our Medical Arts Building, till this day, it’s just a very, very good feeling to look at something that we built many years ago, and we still own it today. Whenever I have that feeling, I always go back to, you know, where it all started, and that was my father.
He built this from from absolutely 0.