Born Tel Aviv 1941. IAF veteran. Son of a bus driver. Owns 27 oceanfront acres in Sunny Isles Beach. Built the Dezer empire across New York and Florida. 1,000-car collector. The patriarch of the most prominent Israeli-American RE dynasty in Florida.
Michael Dezer (born Michael Dezertzov, April 1, 1941, Tel Aviv) is the founder of Dezer Properties and the patriarch of the family that owns more oceanfront real estate in Sunny Isles Beach than any other private entity. Israeli Air Force veteran. Son of a bus driver. Billionaire.
Dezer grew up in a working-class Tel Aviv family, served in the Israeli Air Force, and emigrated to the United States, where he built a New York real estate portfolio before pivoting to South Florida in the 1990s. His New York holdings include over twenty properties — the Simon Dezer Building on Fifth Avenue, the Dezerland building, the Chelsea Antiques Building, Chelsea Design Center, and Chelsea Arts Forum.
1995: The Bet on Sunny Isles Beach That Created a Dynasty
In 1995, Michael Dezer began acquiring oceanfront hotel properties in Sunny Isles Beach — then a faded mid-market beach town north of Miami Beach. The properties included the Dezerland Beach Resort and Spa, the Suez, the Thunderbird, the Driftwood, the Monaco, and the Golden Nugget. He accumulated 27 oceanfront acres — an irreplaceable land position on a barrier island where new beachfront land cannot be created.
The bet was that Sunny Isles would gentrify. International luxury buyers — Israeli, Latin American, Russian, European — would follow the developers who built for them. Dezer provided the land. Donald Trump provided the brand for the first six towers. Gil Dezer provided the next-generation vision — Porsche, Armani, Bentley.
Three decades later, Sunny Isles Beach is one of the most concentrated luxury condo corridors in the United States. Michael Dezer's land bank is the foundation underneath all of it.
The Dezer Collection: 1,000 Cars and a Museum That Doubles as a Brand
Michael Dezer is one of the world's most prolific private car collectors. The Dezer Collection — housed at Dezerland Park in North Miami — displays over 1,000 vehicles: American classics from every era, rare European models, Hollywood "star cars," microcars, classic motorcycles, and one of the world's largest collections of James Bond props and vehicles. He has been collecting for nearly 50 years.
The museum is a commercial tourist attraction, but it is also a brand extension: the Dezer name is synonymous with cars and real estate in South Florida. The same family that builds sky garages into 60-story towers maintains a museum-scale automotive collection on the ground.
Israeli Roots, American Scale, Florida Address
Michael Dezer is a long-time supporter of American and Israeli charities. His wife Neomi (née Kerekes) is also Israeli. Their three children — Gil Dezer, Leslie Dezer Salmon, and Estee Dezer Gurwitz — all participate in the family business. The Dezer story is a canonical Israeli-American builder narrative: Tel Aviv origins, military service, emigration, New York hustle, Florida land play, generational wealth transfer.
He retains development rights to additional Sunny Isles Beach properties beyond the 27 acres already built out — meaning the Dezer pipeline is not finished. At 85, Michael Dezer remains active in the business while Gil runs day-to-day development operations.
