The Charles J. Newman Co., LLC, Peekskill
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
The family of Charles “Chuck” Newman has owned several businesses for decades in Peekskill and the Yorktown resident is keeping the tradition alive.
In 2017, Newman opened The Charles J. Newman Co. LLC on South Street in Peekskill.
Newman said last week his business is an insurance brokerage firm which primarily deals with employee benefits such as health insurance for companies. “We insure around170 businesses,” he noted. The company’s clients include businesses with a few employees to businesses with 400 employees, Newman noted.
Newman’s company also insures such associations as the Westchester County Bar Association and the Westchester County Corrections Officers union.
Newman, who was born in Cold Spring and grew up in Peekskill, said, “My dad and his dad before him had their businesses in Peekskill. So, I’m a third-generation business owner but I only moved my business to Peekskill about 14-15 months ago.”
Newman explained why he moved his business to Peekskill last year. “I was at a point in my career that I just decided I wanted to be in my hometown,” he said.
The Newman family has owned several businesses in Peekskill. For example, his father, the late Benjamin Newman, owned Paraco, which is one of the larges propane distributors in America, Newman said. The company was opened in Peekskill in 1947 by Newman’s grandfather, also named Charles.
Newman’s original career after college was international trade and he worked for an import-export company. “In the late ‘80’s I decided it wasn’t the right business for me,” Newman recalled. “I was traveling a lot and had babies at home.”
Newman said his best friend, Sam Pine, started an auto detailing business in the late 1980s where Newman worked until the business folded as a result of the 1991 recession. With a need for a new career a family member suggested Newman enter the insurance industry, which he has been a part of ever since.
Newman originally opened his business in 1995. “When I was working for a large company as a career agent I was many times trying to fit a square peg into round hole and I felt I couldn’t do the best job for my customers because I wasn’t able to provide them with all the products in the marketplace. And I was incentivized to just sell one company’s product,” Newman said.
Newman explained why his business has been successful. “I just care more, I think, than some other people about being immediately responsive and providing great service,” he said. “We need to be there all the time.”
The Charles J. Newman Co., LLC is located at 906 South St. in Peekskill. For more information, call 914-345-100, send e-mails to chuck@charlesnewman.com or visit charlesnewman.com.
