Alexandra Garcia was born in Harlem and grew up in Washington Heights. Her mother, Rosa attended mass every day, and her father, Ralph, worked in the post office, both her parents came from Puerto Rico. “So we were a typical Latino family, the mom stayed home and the dad went to work.” Alexander said.
As a youth, Alexander would spend summers in Puerto Rico, back in New York and when not in school, she would get involved in different projects helping her community.
Coincidently she would also watch the Mets games religiously on their only TV with her dad, Ralph Garcia, who is a diehard fan and is better known today as the Mets Grandpa.
Alexandra studied Communications at New York’s Manhattan College and went on to make a place for herself in the finance world.
She met Steve Cohen (current owner of the NY Mets) through a dating service in 1991, after Steve had divorced his first wife.
Alexandra and Cohen married one year after they met, at the time she was a single mother and Steve had two children from a prior marriage. The couple later had two children together.
Back when I met Steve, I said to him; “If you marry me, you marry my family,’” Alex recalled. “And my parents moved in with us.
They lived with us until I was 47. We built them a house right next door. So they’re always close to us.”
Alexander is better known now a days as Alex Cohen and she has been an active in philanthropy for over twenty years.
To date The Steve and Alex Foundation have given a total of $989 million to causes that they believe in, such as, improving children’s healthcare and education, fighting hunger, helping underserved populations and communities.
Protecting the environment, improving access to the mental health for veterans, and furthering medical research, particularly in the areas of COVID-19 and Lyme disease. Alex said jokingly, “People ask Steve, ‘Does Alex spend a lot of money?’ and he says, ‘No, she gives it all away.’”
Steve Cohen rise has been huge, case in point; he owned just 8% of the New York Mets in 2012 but by 2020 he beat out bids from several big names including Alex Rodriguez who didn’t handle the loss too well, according to reports.
Cohen acquired the majority stake in the team by paying a whopping $2.6 billion, becoming the owner of a 97.2% stake in the team.
Things got tough for the Wall street investor, being banned from investing after his hedge fund pled guilty to wire fraud which resulted in a hefty lawsuit around 2013. However, the New Yorker has come out stronger than ever and has added a few landmark luxury properties and a major sports team to his name.
Forbes Magazine estimated Cohen’s fortune at $13 billion, ranking him the 30th richest person in the United States. Cohen was dubbed “the hedge fund king” in a 2006 The Wall Street Journal article.
His 2005 compensation was reportedly $1 billion. In December 2013, Cohen’s New York penthouse in the Bloomberg Tower was listed for sale for $98 million.
He also owns According to Institutional Investor, Cohen made an estimated $1.7 billion in 2020. He also is a renowned art collector and his collection is estimated at a whopping $1 billion.
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