Abe Steinheim

Abe Steinheim is a prominent Newark builder whose wealth and influence make him a possible mentor and benefactor to Alvin Roth, but whose business methods make him a figure of deep moral hostility for Alvin. His story is told through contrasting family judgments: Herman Roth sees an accomplished man from whom Alvin could learn and gain an education, while Alvin sees a relentless exploiter. Steinheim’s offer of a future in construction gives that disagreement practical stakes, and Alvin’s decision to leave for Canada rather than accept it makes Steinheim’s promise a measure of the choices the family cannot agree on.

Identity and Rise

Steinheim founded and led one of Newark’s two largest Jewish construction firms, Steinheim & Sons. The company began as his immigrant father’s small building business; Abe expanded it into a multimillion-dollar operation after a serious family dispute drove his two brothers out. His career is presented as a study in expansion, risk, and control: he took on building projects that other developers would not, and his firm continued to secure sites for hotels along the shore.

His public standing was considerable. Herman described him as Newark’s greatest builder, a man who dressed impeccably and took on risky projects. That account presents Steinheim not simply as wealthy, but as a person whose success appeared to validate nerve and sustained labor. Herman hoped Alvin would observe how Steinheim worked and learn what it meant to build a business of one’s own.

Steinheim’s personal authority was as conspicuous as his commercial reach. At the prestigious barber shop at 744 Broad Street, Alvin had to call ahead so the barber would be ready to serve his employer immediately, even if that meant removing whoever was already in the chair. The detail condenses Steinheim’s expectations into a routine: his time and position took precedence over other people’s claims.

Business, Influence, and Routine

Steinheim’s reach extended beyond construction. He raced horses on Saturdays, supported efforts to restore the old track at Mount Holly, and became New Jersey’s commissioner of racing. His official status brought a shield for his car and permission to sound a siren, drive onto the sidewalk, and park wherever he wished. The narrative links his racing interests to his access to local officials and to a wider social network, showing how leisure and business helped reinforce one another.

He also cultivated relationships with wealthy non-Jewish residents of the shore communities, including Wall Township and Spring Lake. He took them to lunch at their clubs, hosted them on his deep-sea-fishing boat at Shark River Inlet, and arranged outings in which hired men caught the fish. The account connects this social maneuvering to Steinheim’s ability to obtain hotel sites from Long Branch to Point Pleasant at low prices. His father’s practice of buying at a discount had become, in Abe’s hands, part of a larger method for extending his business connections and holdings.

Alvin’s stories emphasized a different side of Steinheim’s routine: its unremitting demands and his command over people around him. On Sunday mornings, Steinheim could arrive at Tabatchnick’s, move to the front of the line, order lavish quantities of food, and then go to his rental office to check vacant, occupied, and renovated apartments. He worked seven days a week, took no vacation, and expected others not to lose time. The stories make his habits more than colorful eccentricities; they show how his appetite for work, control, and accumulation shaped the people required to serve him.

His treatment of money sharpened Alvin’s criticism. According to Alvin, Steinheim told subcontractors that the company was short of funds and paid them only a portion of what they were owed—sometimes half, a third, or less. Those contractors needed payment to survive, but Steinheim could continue building and, in Alvin’s view, get away with it. Alvin understood this not as admirable toughness but as exploitation built into the trade. Herman acknowledged the construction business was cutthroat, yet defended Steinheim by arguing that his buildings stood and that he did not break the law. The dispute is therefore not simply over whether Steinheim succeeded, but over what that success cost and whether legality was enough to make it acceptable.

Alvin’s Driver and Proposed Benefactor

Steinheim hired Alvin after noticing him outside the local synagogue on Yom Kippur. He first mistook the young man for Herman’s older son and asked what work he did; after learning about him, he offered him a place in the company. Rather than assigning Alvin to the mailroom or making him an office boy, Steinheim made him his driver. Alvin delivered messages, ran errands, and took him between Newark and construction sites to check on subcontractors.

The position brought Alvin close to the builder’s daily operations, but did not produce admiration. Alvin described Steinheim as a bully, a miser, and a swindler, and complained that he mistreated his sons and humiliated his wife. The family’s arrangement also seemed to Alvin to make obedience inescapable: the sons worked for their father and lived in apartments in a building he owned, while his demands continued by telephone after work. In Alvin’s account, money mattered not as a means of enjoying possessions but as a way to protect Steinheim’s position, secure his holdings, and keep acquiring real estate at a discount.

Despite Alvin’s hostility, Steinheim saw potential in him. He decided Alvin should attend Rutgers University and personally pressed the university’s president to admit him with a full scholarship. Steinheim offered to build a college building in exchange for Alvin’s education, while also making clear that he wanted the young man to return to drive him in the summers. He imagined Alvin graduating with high honors and then joining the business as a more substantial figure. The offer was unusually generous in practical terms, but it also tied Alvin’s education to Steinheim’s authority and future plans for him.

Departure and the Rupture with Herman

Steinheim’s plan was for Alvin to begin college in New Brunswick in September 1941, but Alvin had already left for Canada in February to join the Canadian armed forces and fight on the British side against Hitler. Herman was furious. Their argument exposed the difference between the two men’s moral calculations: Herman considered Steinheim’s offer a rare opportunity for his nephew, while Alvin refused to accept an education and career that would leave him indebted to a man he regarded as an exploiter.

Herman defended Steinheim as a builder operating in a harsh trade and asked whether the work violated the law. Alvin answered that legal business could still take advantage of working people. He also feared that joining Steinheim’s company would bind him to the same family system he observed among the builder’s sons: work, shared living arrangements, and a life organized around the eventual division of the business. For Herman, Steinheim was offering Alvin a future; for Alvin, accepting it meant surrendering independence and lending his labor to a system he despised. His departure thus rejected not only the job but Herman’s hope that Steinheim’s mentorship might redeem Alvin’s uncertain prospects.

Aftermath and Narrative Significance

After Alvin returned from Canada, Herman again considered Steinheim as a possible route to employment. He proposed that Alvin approach Billy Steinheim, who had befriended him when he worked as Abe’s driver, and ask for a low-level position in the firm. Herman hoped that a second chance might let Alvin regain Steinheim’s confidence and find work with a future. He also considered work with Monty Roth as an alternative. The renewed proposal shows that Steinheim remained, in Herman’s view, a practical source of opportunity even after Alvin had rejected his earlier offer.

The contrast between Herman’s hopes and Alvin’s judgments gives Steinheim a role beyond that of a powerful employer. In the family stories recalled by Philip Roth, he represents a version of success founded on endurance, leverage, and command over others. Herman emphasizes the buildings, the daring projects, and the chance Alvin might have to learn; Alvin recounts the unpaid portions owed to subcontractors, the pressure placed on employees, and the dependence Steinheim’s relatives lived under. Neither account erases the other: the builder’s capacity to offer a scholarship and a career coexists with the conduct that makes Alvin refuse them. Steinheim consequently becomes the point at which family loyalty, economic opportunity, and moral judgment collide.