He died in the home he hated, in a building owned by a man who apparently hated him.
Todd Brassner, a 67-year-old art dealer who lost his life Saturday in the Trump Tower fire, despised building owner Donald Trump, a friend of the victim told the Daily News. The feeling was evidently mutual, with now-President Trump allegedly calling Brassner a “crazy Jew” soon after the art dealer moved into the Fifth Ave. high-rise more than two decades ago, Brassner pal Patrick Goldsmith said Sunday.
A fellow art dealer, Goldsmith said he heard the vile remark in 1996 as he entered the building and passed by the exiting Trump. Goldsmith, who like Brassner opposes the President, took the opportunity to glance at Trump’s petite hands — which gained notoriety in the late 1980s and suffered another wave of scrutiny during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump reportedly became enraged when he caught Goldsmith staring and demanded the gawker’s identity from his doorman, Goldsmith said. The doorman said Goldsmith was headed to the 50th floor to see Brassner.
“Oh, that crazy Jew?” Trump asked, according to Goldsmith.
The nonobservant Brassner later dismissed the comment, joking, “I’m a Hebrew, I’m not a Jew,” when Goldsmith divulged what happened.
“Apparently he already had a go-round with him about something,” Goldsmith, 64, said, adding Brassner was annoyed by an overflowing sink in his home.
“I would’ve probably gone nuts on him,” said Goldsmith, who lives in Plainsboro, N.J., and owns PDG Art Gallery, which has multiple locations in Manhattan.
