A respected real estate broker is suspected to have jumped to his death from an upscale building on the Upper East Side on Tuesday morning while in the middle of selling an heiress' home., according to authorities. Thomas "Tom" Cooper, 56, a Douglas Elliman broker, hit the ground in front of 18 East 67th Street, near Madison Avenue, around 7:30 am on Tuesday.
Cooper reportedly left a suicide note before taking the fatal plunge from the prestigious luxury shopping area of Madison Avenue. Shocked onlookers initially thought the impact resembled a sack of laundry until they realized it was a body. Police confirmed that he had left a suicide note.
Killed Himself after Leaving Suicide Note
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) transported him to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. "He was a nice guy. I am so sad, very sad... He always talks to me," said Renato Cera, the superintendent, who was at the building earlier on Tuesday and returned when his manager notified him of the apparent suicide.
Cooper lived alone and did not have family members who came to visit, according to Cera's statement to The New York Post.
"He [was] always alone," said Cera, noting the last time he saw Cooper was about two weeks ago.
"He looked happy. He told me, 'You are always on time' ... I said, 'You know, I have to fix the garbage,'" he said of their last interaction.
Cooper underwent surgery "in the stomach" during the summer, as per Cera's information, although the exact nature of the operation could not be confirmed.
The superintendent mentioned that Cooper had been a resident of the building for at least the duration of Cera's employment, which spanned more than a year.
At the time of his death, the Douglas Elliman agent was in the process of selling a $3.7 million unit located within the former NYPD headquarters on Centre Street. The property is owned by Meghan Ellison, the filmmaker and daughter of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
Cooper's final social media post shows him standing beside a Christmas tree in the lobby of the historic building, which accommodates the apartment he was selling along with two others.
"The gorgeous lobby of The Police Building at 240 Centre St!" he wrote on Friday.
An Excellent Agent
Bill Hogan, the property manager of the building, characterized Cooper as an "excellent" tenant. "He was one of my favorite tenants..... very nice person," Hogan told The New York Post.
"It's a shame. It's just sad about what happened around the holidays," he added.
Cooper had also played a role in the recent sale of a six-story, 9,000-square-foot townhouse at 24 West 10th Street, which fetched $18.5 million.
"Absolutely thrilled for my wonderful buyers who can now call this stately Greenwich Village brownstone their home. Truly a stunning house, and part of New York City history!" he wrote on Instagram.
Cooper's sister is on her way to New York City to be with his "devastated" family and friends. According to a witness, one of Cooper's distressed neighbors emerged from the Upper East Side building, having seen him just days before.
"A neighbor came out and said he just spent Christmas Eve with him and he had said that it was the best Christmas Eve he had ever had," the witness told the New York Post.
Cooper was the lead agent for Meghan Ellison's apartment on Centre Street and two others located within the historic 1909 building, which once served as the NYPD's headquarters until 1973.
After its conversion into luxury apartments, the building became the home of supermodels Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista, as well as renowned fashion designer Calvin Klein.
The top-floor apartment, which Cooper was actively involved in selling, spans 1,770 square feet and features a sizable bedroom with a soaring rotunda-style dome that commands attention. Cooper's listing indicated that it could be combined with the adjacent $3.5 million two-bedroom, 1,550 square feet unit, resulting in a combined price of $7.2 million.
Additionally, he was handling the sale of a three-bedroom apartment on the third floor, priced just under $6.5 million.
Cooper's own luxury building dates back to 1905 and consists of eight private units. In 2022, one of the units was rented out for $9,000 per month. Unfortunately, Cooper joins a recent trend of New Yorkers tragically jumping from upscale Manhattan buildings in recent weeks.
