Zygi Wilf was born in Germany on April 22, 1950. His parents, Jozef and Erzebet Wilf, are both Holocaust survivors from Nazi occupied Poland. The Wilf family immigrated to the United States from Europe in the early 1950s and settled in Hillside, New Jersey. After a brief stint as used car salesmen, Joseph and his brother Harry Wilf began purchasing apartment buildings and renting units. Eventually, the brothers began building single-family homes and founded Garden Homes. A successful real estate developer, his two main family-run businesses, Garden Homes and Garden Commercial Properties, have constructed some 25,000 homes in 39 states across the country since 1955; the two entities and their affiliates own and manage square feet ( m2) in retail and business property.