Todd Brassner, who died after a fire gutted his apartment on the 50th floor of Trump Tower on Saturday evening, was an art dealer and bon vivant with an extensive art collection and about 250 vintage guitars and ukuleles in his apartment. His collection, listed as worth more than $3 million in a 2015 bankruptcy filing, included a 1975 portrait of himself by Andy Warhol, who had been a friend.
According to friends, Brassner, 67, was in declining health and had been trying to sell his apartment since President Trump was elected. "He said, 'This is getting untenable,'" Stephen Dwire, a musician and music producer who had been friends with Brassner since they were 14, told The New York Times. "It was like living in an armed camp. But when people heard it was a Trump building, he couldn't give it away." Brassner had purchased the unit in 1996, and he estimated in 2015 that it was worth $2.5 million.
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