From mimeographs to Twitter: A life in PR

Richard LeFrak calls him an “old pro.” Charles Cohen says he’s always “right on the money.”

After 50 years in public relations, Steve Solomon is taking a break. But while he’s talking about enjoying time at his lakeside home in Laconia, New Hampshire as he leaves Rubenstein Associates, the stalwart real estate PR man isn’t bowing out.

Steve Solomon Inc. is slated to launch in November.

It’s not surprising that someone who walks around the city to keep up on the latest developments would want to keep a hand in the industry. “I need views of the city real estate landscape,” Solomon said. “It inspires me.”

Solomon’s love of real estate was born in the mid-1950s. As an inexperienced young journalist, he was hired as the editor of Real Estate Weekly. On his third day on the job, he got a call from the New York Times:  “Rat Pack” member and Kennedy in-law Peter Lawford had been turned down trying to buy a Manhattan co-op.

“So the reporter decided to call an ‘expert’ in real estate and called the editor of Real Estate Weekly,” Solomon recalled. The next day, a story featuring Solomon’s off-the-cuff insight ran prominently. His publisher was so impressed, Solomon got a $10-a-week raise.

In the decades since, Solomon worked with industry giants from Steven Green and Barbara Corcoran to Larry Silverstein. He was at Rubenstein for five years in the 1960s , then branched out on his own to run the Solomon Organization. He returned to the fold 22 years later, merging his firm with Rubenstein in 1990.

“Steve is one of the all-time greats and certainly a legend in the public relations business,” founder and Chairman Howard Rubenstein said. “He had a great deal to do with all the good things that happened to me and to my business.”

Solomon has seen PR transition from mimeograph machines and mail to a 24/7, Internet-centric, social media-infused business. Nevertheless, he said, the fundamentals of dealing with and building relationships with the media haven’t changed.

“He knows his way around the industry and he knows the players.” said LeFrak.  Cohen added: “His instincts are really the most you could ever hope for as a real estate developer.”

It wasn’t all real estate: in the 1970s and 80s, he was a beauty pagent publicist, and he’s got a “wall of presidents” to prove it; he’s met Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

“Despite all the great things I’ve done in my career,” Solomon reflected, the only thing that got me into the White House was when I accompanied either Miss USA or Mrs. America.”