Friend of the President Dies of Coronavirus

Stanley Chera was in his late 70s
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 13, 2020 12:01 AM CDT
Friend of the President Dies of Coronavirus
The Empire State building and the Manhattan skyline are seen behind the tombstones at Calvary Cemetery, Saturday, April 11, 2020, in the Maspeth neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed a friend of the president. Stanley Chera, a New York City real estate developer and Republican donor, has died of COVID-19 complications, a source told CNN on Sunday. Chera co-founded Crown Acquisitions, which in 2008 made a deal with Jared Kushner's company. Last year, introducing President Trump at New York City's Veteran's Day Parade, he said the president was a "dear friend." And Trump returned the compliment last year at a rally, calling Chera "a great guy and he's been with me from the beginning." Chera donated more than $400,000 to funds supporting Trump between 2016 and 2019.

Sources say that when Trump last month described a friend who had fallen into a coma while struggling with the coronavirus, he was speaking of Chera, who was in his late 70s. "We thought they were going in for a mild stay, and in one case, he's unconscious, in a coma," Trump said at the time. "And you say, how did that happen?" Trump has not spoken out on Chera's death, but a White House official anonymously confirmed the death and Chera's links to Trump to Politico. Chera, who owned such well-known NYC properties as the Cartier Mansion, was also a well-known philanthropist, co-founding Brooklyn's nonprofit Sephardic Community Center. (More coronavirus stories.)

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