Benenson Realty Co. was founded by his father Benjamin Benenson in 1905 and grew into an industry leader under his guidance, until his death in 1938. The younger Benenson graduated from
Yale University in 1933 and joined his father's firm in 1937, during the depths of the
Great Depression through which the company survived due to their lucrative lease with The
Horn & Hardart automat at 31st and Broadway. He ran the company until his death in 2004. Benenson was a philanthropist and political donor. His efforts and views landed him on the
master list of Nixon political opponents. He founded the Coalition Against Double Taxation in the 1980s in response to a proposal in
Congress which would eradicate state and local income taxes as deductions. The coalition successfully quashed the measure, later becoming the National Realty Committee (NRC), then
The Real Estate Roundtable. He was a founding member of the
Association for a Better New York, the Realty Foundation, the Lincoln Center Real Estate and Construction Council, the New York Junior Tennis League, the I Have a Dream Program, and the Museum of African Art. He was also a significant collector of African art, bequeathing much of his collection to the
Yale University Art Gallery. ==Personal life==