Martin Greenfield: Holocaust survivor and renowned tailor for U.S. presidents, dies at 95

Martin Greenfield, renowned tailor and Holocaust survivor, died on March 20, 2024 at the age of 95.

Tod Greenfield

Martin Greenfield, a Holocaust survivor and tailor to celebrities, athletes, U.S. presidents and many others, died Wednesday on Long Island at age 95. 

Known to the world as the talented and expert tailor who measured and fit suits to a suite of celebrities, presidents and other politicians, Greenfield “died comfortably,” according to an Instagram post from his sons. 

“Martin Greenfield survived the atrocities of the Holocaust with his humanity intact, living his life delighted to meet everyone he encountered with his infectious smile,” the post went on to say.

Greenfield was born to a Jewish family on Aug. 9, 1928, in an area in Europe that is now Ukraine. At age 14, he and his family were imprisoned at the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. His parents, two sisters, brother and grandparents were killed, but the young Greenfield was spared, as he worked in the camp’s alterations shop, fixing Nazi troops’ shirts, according to the Daily Mail. 

“The pain is still in my heart about my family,” Greenfield said in one of his company’s videos. “I still dream about my family, like they are alive. But on the outside, you will never know.”

Greenfield, originally born Maxmilian Grünfeld, spent a year and two months at Auschwitz before his liberation from the death camp. When World War ll ended, he eventually left Europe and moved to the United States in 1947, which is when he began a successful career in tailoring, utilizing the trade skills he learned at Auschwitz. 

Determined and hardworking, Greenfield’s first job was as a floor boy at the GGG clothing factory in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As he worked, he attended night school to learn English, became a U.S. citizen and went on to receive several promotions at GGG. 

In 1977, Greenfield purchased the factory and re-named it Martin Greenfield…