David Winoker, the president of the Manhattan-based commercial brokerage firm Winoker Realty, was remembered yesterday as a loving husband and father at a Westchester County memorial service — held two days after Winoker was killed in a skydiving accident in Ulster County, N.Y. The 49-year-old real estate executive was part of a group that went skydiving for a friend’s 50th birthday party. He and his Skydive the Ranch instructor, 25-year-old Alexander Chulsky, fell to the ground from the plane near a farm after their shared parachute appeared to have malfunctioned. But Newsday reported that there might have been a medical condition involved.
It quotes Joe Richard, president of the skydiving firm, saying Chulsky was incapacitated during the jump and that led to the fatal fall. The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the accident.
The New York Post reported that Winoker was hesitant to participate in the skydiving event but was convinced by his wife to do so.
Winoker’s firm works mostly in the Garment District, representing a large portfolio of offices and tenants looking for space. But he was also working on expanding the firm beyond the Garment District, where it was founded by his father, according to an interview he gave last year to the New York Observer. [Post], [NYDN], [Newsday] and [NYO]