BMNAR executive directors message: Gupta of Chatam Management to be honored at annual banquet

Eliezer Rodriguez, Bronx - Manhattan North Association of Realtors

On April 26, 2017, at the luxurious Marina del Rey, The Bronx Manhattan North Association of Realtors (BMNAR) will be hosting its 93^rd Annual Banquet. The evening will be a celebration and recognition of Realtors, distinguished guests and friends. I am especially excited about this year’s recipient of The Heritage Award. This prestigious award was created in 2011 to recognize a firm or company active in the real estate industry for multiple generations. When the committee unanimously selected The Chatam Management Co., Inc., to receive the 2017 Heritage Award, I saw this as an opportunity to publicly share my first experience with the president of Chatam Management Co., Ram Gupta.

In 2002, I was a young attorney working part-time for Mark Engel, CEO at Langsam Property Services Corp. In my spare time, I was working on a project to promote the legacy of Roberto Clemente, the great right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who died in a plane crash on December 31, 1972, while attempting to deliver aid to the earthquake victims of Nicaragua.

Eli Rodriguez (left) with Roberto Clemente Jr. (center) and Adolfo Carrion Jr., then current Bronx Borough president at a fundraiser in 2005 to benefit Project Club Clemente, Inc., which was sponsored by Ram Gupta of Chatam Management.

Engel was the first to know of my work and he gave me a cubicle to continue my work. I called the cubicle “Right Field.” Engel also introduced me to Gupta. With Gupta’s sponsorship, I was able to create Project Club Clemente, Inc. (PCC), a not-for-profit corporation. For the next three years, Gupta continued to sponsor my work. He is partially responsible for what happened on December 31, 2005. On that date, as a symbolic tribute to Clemente’s legacy, 33 years after his death, PCC completed Clemente’s last humanitarian effort by delivering the promised aid to the earthquake victims of Nicaragua.  The project was entitled “The Flight for Humanity.”

Gupta did not just decide to be kind and generous to me. His helping hands, compassion and generosity are imbedded from his upbringing in a rural Indian village where electricity, running water and other basic necessities lacked. His walk of five miles each way to go to school, prepared him to beat the odds. He is one of a few to graduate with distinction in accounting from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India.

In 1970, Gupta migrated to New York City to continue his accounting career. Six years later, he founded his own real estate business. In the following 46 years, he grew his portfolio to include properties across the United States. Gupta made his mark on the real estate world and he has been recognized by the major organizations in the trade. Gupta has also distinguished himself by receiving the Business Award from the Bronx Home Care Services and he has been named The Bronx YMCA’s “Man of the Year.” Gupta continues to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. In 2008, his daughter, Anita, joined the business and The Chatam Management Co., Inc. has grown even more.

Please join me in congratulating the recipients of the BMNAR’s 2017 Heritage Award, for generational involvement in real estate, Ram Gupta and his daughter, Anita Gupta, from Chatam Management Co., Inc.

If you have worked with Chatam Management or have benefited from their generosity, place an ad in our commemorative journal and let them know you appreciate their contribution to the real estate world and to humanity. For more information on the Banquet, please call 718-892-3000.  I hope to see you at BMNAR’s 93^rd Annual Banquet on April 26, 2017.

Gupta may never fully appreciate what his help meant to me because he helps so many. I hope this write-up lets him know how grateful I am that he decided to help a young attorney fulfill a dream. Gupta, I have three words for you: “Thank you, forever!” To his wife, Aruna, his two daughters, Chetana and Anita and to his four beautiful grandchildren, Gupta is still one of a few!

Eliezer Rodriguez, Esq. is the executive director of The Bronx-Manhattan North Association of Realtors, Bronx, N.Y.