Perlen Steel Founder Richard Perlen

A man of peace and snazzy cars reflects on his role in building the elevator industry in NYC and beyond.

by Kaija Wilkinson

Richard Perlen, founder of respected elevator industry supplier Newark, New Jersey-based KSJ Perlen Steel Corp., remembers making his first delivery to a jobsite — a 15-in., 33.9-lb, 3-ft-long steel channel — in the trunk of his 1979 black 930 Porsche Turbo shortly after launching his company in 1982. This unique, flashy form of personal delivery — as well as Perlen’s consistent hands-on, personal approach to customer service — stuck in people’s minds, and the nascent company began to take off. Seeking to move the business out of his apartment, Perlen initially rented 6,000 ft2 of warehouse space in Harrison, New Jersey, but that lasted only a few years, he said. “My dad always taught me to own your own property, so I bought a building in Newark, which is where Perlen Steel is today.”

The company now occupies the 40,000-ft2 warehouse on 1 acre that boasts 10 overhead cranes ranging from 1-t to 15-t lifting capacity. Perlen retired a few years ago, selling Perlen Steel to KSJ Group. Perlen still enjoys assisting the KSJ Group by providing expert steel advice from time to time while managing his commercial real estate company from his condo in Fort Lee, New Jersey, a place he has called home for roughly 50 years. In February, Perlen Steel announced an experienced elevator man as its new CEO: Robert Masterson, a 42-year veteran of the industry who joined the company from NYC-based Champion Elevator, where Champion President and CEO Don Gelestino said Masterson left a major mark with his technical expertise, innovative leadership and commitment to excellence and innovation (“Mastering The Craft,” ELEVATOR WORLD, May 2025).

Suffice it to say that Perlen Steel is in good hands, and Richard Perlen can, for the most part, take it easy enjoying his favorite activities — traveling the world, advocating for individual peace and tooling around in one of his high-end vintage cars. He sold the Porsche in 2012, but today owns several nifty rides, including a Jaguar, a Ferrari, a Bentley and an Acura NSX 1991 convertible — “the same one that Donald Trump got for his wife at the time, Marla Maples, on the same day” in the same NYC showroom back in 1991. Perlen’s, however, is a hardtop stick shift (which every car aficionado knows is better), while Trump’s ex-wife’s was a convertible automatic.

A Family Built on Steel

Perlen’s family has been in the steel industry since 1919, even buying a company — Egleston Brothers Steel Co. — that was founded in 1829 and did a major portion of steel fabrication for the Brooklyn Bridge.

“From a very young age, I worked in every capacity in the steel company. It was in my blood. My dad often mentioned companies like Otis and Westinghouse that had large manufacturing facilities locally and consumed a great deal of steel. My forte was sales, so I put two and two together and went after those accounts and those of every other elevator company.”

Perlen left the family business shortly after his father passed away in 1979. He lacked the capital to create a competing steel distributorship, so when he got a call from an Otis purchasing agent looking for 70,000 lb of lead counterweights, Perlen figured out how to “make it work” from his apartment. He developed a relationship with a local iron shop and worked out a deal to fabricate the steel he bought from area warehouses and steel mills. Perlen arranged for the components to be shipped to jobsites. If all else failed, he did it himself, hence the delivery via Porsche.

A Turning Point

A turning point came in 1989 when Westinghouse sold its elevator division to Schindler. All of Westinghouse’s fabricating equipment went up for sale, and Perlen bought it at book value. “Overnight, I became a fully equipped steel fabricating company, and my business really started to expand,” Perlen says.

A Perlen Steel ad from ELEVATOR WORLD from 35 years ago describes it as an elevator company specialist that fabricates — from blueprints — steel, stainless steel and aluminum. “One Call Gets It All,” the ad states, listing among its offerings counterweights, test weights, tension sheave weights, machine beams, hitch plates, floor plates, machine room guards, brackets, pit ladders and piano wire.

Perlen did business within an approximately 250-mi. Radius, with the lion’s share in the NYC metropolitan area. Perlen says:

“I used to go to Washington, D.C., and Boston quite a bit, but the majority of my work was in NYC. Although Perlen Steel shipped nationwide and even internationally, it contributed to nearly every major building in NYC, like the Empire State Building, [the Time Warner Center, now the Deutsche Bank Center], One World Trade Center, Hudson Yards, the 2nd Avenue Subway Extension, etc.”

Around 2010, Perlen’s clients kept asking about elevator cables and rails. After researching and visiting manufacturing facilities in Argentina and Russia, Perlen’s company became a distributor for IPH and VOL-STAHL. “Our first job with IPH was the Empire State Building because it outperformed all other existing cable,” Perlen says. 

Perlen Steel grew from its initial staff of one — Richard Perlen — to the more than 35 employees it has today. The company still distributes IPH and VOL-STAHL, as well as Nova guide rails; Messilot rope; Wittur roller guides, safeties and governors; and Oleo oil buffers, according to Masterson. The company is doing more packages than ever before, supplying ropes, rails, counterweight frames, counterweights, car-slings, platforms, deflector sheaves, guide shoes, machine beams, custom hoisting beams, bedplates and even machines. The tariff situation, Masterson says, is “definitely impacting the company.” Perlen Steel is often forced to pass on a portion of the added costs to customers, he said, with the volatility surrounding tariffs also creating significant challenges in purchasing strategy, particularly when working with overseas suppliers.

Perlen Steel contributed to nearly every major building in NYC, like the Empire State Building, the Time Warner Center, One World Trade Center, Hudson Yards and the 2nd Avenue Subway Extension. — Perlen Steel Founder Richard Perlen

Richard Perlen, meanwhile, is enjoying life in retirement, whether he’s relaxing in his 7,000-ft2 condo overlooking the Hudson River, cruising around in one of his eye-catching cars or advocating for peace — “not the type that you sign; those don’t work,” he says. “I’m passionate about peace on an individual basis. Kindness is part of it, but peace is a feeling that can’t be described. I’ve been part of a peace movement for 50 years actually.”