CHAPTER 20

## Jeffrey Epstein: 1953–1969

effrey Epstein's mother, Paula, was the daughter of Max and Lena Stolofsky, who arrived in the United States as Lithua- nian refugees. Relatives on that side of the family who remained in the old country would all perish in the course of Adolf Hitler's campaign to exterminate European Jewry.

Epstein's father, Seymour, was a manual laborer, like his father before him. Seymour's parents, Julius and Bessie Epstein, had emigrated from Russia and landed in Brooklyn, both of them with eighth-grade educations. They lived in Crown Heights, where Julius owned a house-wrecking company.

Before landing a job with the city, Seymour had worked with his father.

They were kind people, says Epstein's childhood friend Gary Grossberg. Seymour was there for him at a difficult time, Gross- berg says. When Grossberg was young, his parents divorced, and

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{"people":["jeffrey epstein","paula epstein","max stolofsky","lena stolofsky","adolf hitler","seymour epstein","julius epstein","bessie epstein","gary grossberg"]}