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Who

A real estate developer and former owner of the New York Post, Kalikow served as chairman of the MTA through May 2007.

Backstory

Kalikow inherited a real estate fortune from his father and grandfather: Over the course of six decades, the elder Kalikows built the family business, H.J. Kalikow & Co., into a major real estate development company before handing off the business to Peter in the early '70s. Kalikow soon set his sights beyond commercial development. In 1988 he acquired the money-losing New York Post for $37.8 million from Rupert Murdoch, after an FCC rule was enacted that prohibited media companies from owning newspapers and TV news stations in the same market.

Kalikow's timing could have been better. As the recession of the early '90s sent the value of his real estate holdings plummeting, he was forced to file for personal bankruptcy—he owed lenders more than $1 billion—and he later had to cede control of the paper, too. (It was turned over to the notoriously nutty Abe Hirschfeld, who relinquished it to News Corp. just weeks after Murdoch obtained a waiver from the FCC.) Kalikow eventually extricated himself from the financial mess and set about redeeming his name; then-Governor Mario Cuomo happily obliged by offering Kalikow a spot on the board of the MTA. Seven years later, Governor Pataki nominated him to the chairmanship, and he re-nominated Kalikow to another six-year term just before leaving office in 2006, much to the annoyance of Eliot Spitzer. He stepped down in May 2007 after months of political pressure.

Of note

Kalikow still runs the family real estate firm—his company controls 10 buildings in the city, including his flagship property 101 Park Avenue, but he'll probably be best remembered for his tenure at the MTA and for presiding over the agency during the transit strike of December 2005. Kalikow's refusal to work out a deal with union chief Roger Toussaint left the city immobilized for three days, and his embarrassingly slow response to the crisis, which may have had something to do with the fact he'd never stepped foot on the subway and had no idea what an inconvenience a strike posed to city residents, only compounded the problem. But it wasn't the first time Kalikow had courted controversy on the job. A year earlier, he had pressed for a fare hike amid claims the MTA was running a deficit; to the MTA chair's embarrassment, city comptroller Bill Thompson later found a surplus of $1 billion sitting in the agency's coffers.

But there were some positive moments during his tenure. Kalikow earned praise for pushing ahead with the plan to build a Second Avenue subway (although the first leg won't be ready until 2013), and for championing a capital rebuilding program that has since resulted in significant improvements to subway cars and stations. That wasn't enough to convince Eliot Spitzer he should remain in the job: After taking office, Spitzer made it clear that he expected the Republican (and Pataki pal) to step down. And although he didn't have the authority to fire the chairman, he appointed a new executive director, Lee Sander, to run the agency day-to-day, a move he hoped would put political pressure on Kalikow to step aside. That he did in May 2007 when he delivered an emotional press conference, wistfully adding that serving as chair of the MTA was "the most satisfying thing I've ever done."

Campaign trail

A longtime Republican fundraiser, Kalikow was one of the architects of Al D'Amato's campaign for Senate in the '80s and served as D'Amato's special advisor. Kalikow's been a very active Republican donor in the years since: He donated more than $150,000 to members of the party during the 2004 election cycle.

Board game

Kalikow is on the board of the New York Holocaust Museum and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, along with Sandy Weill, Jerry Speyer, John Thain, and John Mack, among others. He's also a trustee of Hofstra, his alma mater.

Personal

Kalikow and his wife, Mary (née Mary Typaldos Jacobatos), have two kids, Nicholas and Kathryn. Nick currently lives in Los Angeles and works in film; Kathryn is a student at Vassar. Kalikow and his wife live across the street from the Met at 1001 Fifth Avenue and have a 12-acre estate in Montauk.

Toys

Kalikow has described himself as "obsessed" with Ferraris. He isn't kidding: He owns some 45 vintage models, plus a variety of other collector cars. His favorite? A 1961 Ferrari 250GT California—the same model that appeared in Ferris Bueller's Day Off—which is worth more than $1 million.