They said, “Let's build the world’s largest tennis club,” Alan recalled. In 1967 this father/son team decided they wanted to work together on something meaningful, something through which they could channel their shared passion. Alan recalled with a smile what his father told him: “'We each have one vote. Originally, it was a two-thirds, one-third ownership. After Alan graduated from Yale (where he captained the tennis team) and then graduated with distinction from the Harvard Business School in 1954, he and Kevie became partners, first in the chromium business and then in an industrial real estate company. Kevie instilled in Alan the love of real estate and tennis. Kevie had been an electrochemical engineer and the inventor of chromium plating, but he had three other passions that ultimately led him and his son Alan to create Midtown: building things, real estate development and playing tennis. The family business started in the middle of the last century with Louis' son, Kevie (pronounced KEE-vee). In 2016, Midtown Athletic Clubs brought in $103 million, according to the Top 100 Clubs form submitted by company. But his grandson and great-grandson today are at the helm of the company, which owns and manages fitness facilities, corporate fitness centers and employee wellness programs as well as licenses tennis products and teaching programs. In fact, Louis likely had no inkling there would even be something called the fitness industry let alone Midtown Athletic Clubs or TCA. One hundred years ago when Louis Schwartz was earning a living washing windows in the Bronx, he likely had no idea that one day his grandson Alan and great-grandson Steven would own and run one of the largest and highest revenue-generating businesses in the fitness industry, TCA, which does business as Midtown Athletic Clubs and Midtown Health. Rather, we present the human-interest story, which, after all, is about interesting humans. The series has been made possible by the generous sponsorship of Sports & Fitness Insurance Corp. and ABC Financial Services, Inc. Editors' Note: This is the first in an ongoing series examining the family side of the fitness business where passionate fitness entrepreneurs have instilled the love of fitness to the next generation. This series is not about the achievements of these families (easily found via websites or a Google search).
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