Joseph B. Greiner Remembered as Leading Real Estate Broker

He was born on February 7, 1930 in New York City to Dr. Louis Greiner, who emigrated as a child from Austria, and Dorothy (née Walderman) Greiner of greater Baltimore. Joe was the youngest of three children, Marilyn (née Greiner) Schaff and William Greiner, who both predeceased him. Joe was the older brother of two half-siblings, Luise Greiner (who predeceased him) and Stephen Greiner.

He grew up in Manhattan, attending Stuyvesant High School, where he nurtured his love of chemistry, photography, and cinema and built lifelong friendships, especially with fellow students Dr. Siegfried Johannes “Ziggy” Kra and Dr. Stuart Wolfe, both of whom died recently. He attended Syracuse University and later transferred to pre-med at City College, where he rejoined his friends Stu and Ziggy and became obsessed with bridge, often playing until the early morning hours.

After medical school at the Sorbonne in Paris for a year, he returned to the U.S. and worked briefly in the insurance industry before finding his path in industrial real estate, first with his brother Bill, who had co-founded Greiner-Maltz. He launched his own firm, J.B. Greiner Company, an industrial and commercial real estate brokerage firm focused on Queens and Brooklyn, which he ran for nearly 40 years. A master negotiator with the highest ethical standards, Joe was highly entrepreneurial, forming partnerships with fellow brokers and developers and investing strategically in a market that he studied carefully. He also taught real estate as an adjunct at NYU. An achievement Joe was most proud of was the successful negotiation of a deal that brought the Long Island City Citibank tower to fruition, which sparked a massive development boom in that area.

Joe enjoyed an active and rewarding 30+ year retirement with his second wife, Sigrid Weschky Greiner, who predeceased him. He pursued his passions for tennis, cooking, computers, and tech investing. He spent decades enjoying “adult summer camp” in Jupiter with an expansive set of dear friends who became a second family. Joe was at the center of entertaining and connecting his friends. As a snowbird, he spent the summers in Remsenburg, where he created a family compound for his children and grandchildren.

He is survived by his children, Dawn (Glenn) Kasten, Jennifer (Jacob Ouillette) Greiner, and John (Mary) Greiner; grandchildren Julia, Liam, and Eleanor Greiner, and Aidan Kasten; step-grandchildren Stephanie and Aurora Kasten; brother Stephen (Marilyn) Greiner, and sister-in-law Inge Weschky; ex-wife and mother of his children, Dorothy Greiner; cousins, nieces, nephews, dear friends, and his beloved dog, Daisy.

There will be two Celebrations of Life: in Remsenburg in late December and in Jupiter in February. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations in his memory to the Furry Friends Animal Shelter in Jupiter or New York Junior Tennis and Learning in Long Island City.