Real Estate Investor David Winoker Remembered Sunday in Bedford

BEDFORD CORNERS, N.Y. – Friends and family filled the parking lot of Temple Sharaay Tefila in Bedford Corners and lined the sides of Baldwin Road up to Route 172 to mourn the death of David Winoker, a prominent real estate investor from Chappaqua. Winoker died Friday in a skydiving accident in Ulster County.

“There’s a hole in my heart so big, I don’t know if it will ever close,” said Hillary Winoker, one of his three children, during the funeral service.  

At the service, younger daughter Allyson wished their father a happy Father’s Day and his wife Jillian Spitalnik Winoker described her husband as kind and compassionate, someone who never said no to anyone. She spoke of how cautious he had always been and mentioned that he always used sunscreen and never drove above the speed limit.

“I learned that things happen in life that are beyond our control,” his wife said. “It is unfathomable that we are here without David. He was so cautious in everything he did.”

Winoker, 49, was the president of Winoker Realty, a Manhattan real estate company his father Sidney started in the ‘80s. The company owns several office buildings in Manhattan, many of them in the Garment District. 

Winoker is survived by his wife, two daughters and one son, Jared.

Winoker and a skydiving instructor were doing a tandem jump last Friday as a celebration of a friend’s birthday party, when, according to eyewitnesses, their parachute appeared to malfunction, the New York Daily News reported. The jump was organized by Skydive the Ranch, located in Gardiner.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the accident.

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