By Andrew Coen
But Bienstock, a graduate of the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School, had to settle for second place in the hit NBC reality show. Just the same, Five Towners who gathered to watch the show at the Lawrence-Cedarhurst firehouse on Central Avenue were extremely proud of how far the 23-year-old made it.
Trump ended up firing Bienstock and choosing his competitor, Sean Yazbeck, a 33-year-old native of London who now lives in the United States. But the multimillionaire business mogul said he was impressed with both men before he made his decision on who to hire.
When Trump pronounced, "Lee, you're fired," groans of disappointment rose from the standing-room-only crowd of more than 400 that packed the garage of the firehouse to watch the finale. It was an evening on which the Five Towns was in the national spotlight, with NBC cameras filming the "Apprentice Party," with two live cut-ins during the finale, which unfolded live in Los Angeles and was attended by many Bienstock family members, including Lee's parents, Mark and Flora.
"We view him as the winner of New York," joked a proud Mark Bienstock the morning after the finale. "We're disappointed he didn't win it ... but he knows he has a tremendous future ahead."
At Lee Bienstock's request, the "Apprentice Party" raised money for the firehouse as well as the Dennis Leary Firefighters Foundation. Organizers said that $1,965 was raised, and when Bienstock returns to the East Coast, he will formally present a check to fire officials in a planned ceremony.
The party was attended by numerous HAFTR students and faculty as well as Rabbi Kenneth Hain of the Bienstock family's synagogue, Congregation Beth Sholom, and the mayor of Lawrence, Dr. Jack Levenbrown. "HAFTR is extremely proud of our graduate Lee," said the yeshiva's executive director, David Shapiro, before the finale. "He is truly an inspiration to our students."
"He is a terrific young man, a terrific Jew, and he has the whole community behind him," said Hain.
The show, which has been on NBC since 2004, with the winner decided by Trump based on performance in a range of business-related tasks, had a new twist this season, with the public given a chance to weigh in. Bienstock's family and friends, as well as his alma mater, did their part to get the word about voting for Bienstock by distributing fliers throughout the tri-state area, including at last Sunday's Israeli Day Parade in Manhattan. While the exact results were not released, Trump said that Yazbeck won the majority of the vote, but added that he felt the competitors were near equals when it came to who would make the best "Apprentice."
While Bienstock was the first Five Towner to be a contestant on the "The Apprentice," the show already had a local connection, with one of Trump's board room advisors, George Ross, being a Hewlett Harbor resident. Bienstock, who majored in policy analysis and management at Cornell and graduated with a 4.0 grade point average, joined the reality show in March, along with 17 other candidates.
"This is an exciting moment for our community," said Alan Blass, a family friend of the Bienstocks, as he arrived at the gathering. "[Lee] carries himself so well."
Bienstock, who was born in Brooklyn and whose family moved to Lawrence seven years ago, came on the show only months after graduating from Cornell and landing a job as a business analyst with Merrill Lynch in Manhattan. He currently works with Acentera as a global management analyst.
After the taping of the series was completed -- except for the finale -- he had the challenge of not revealing for months that he had made it all the way to the final pairing. "I watched with him every week and he never disclosed anything," said Bienstock's cousin Andrew Zang, who attends Kennedy High School in Bellmore.
While finishing second will not mean a six-figure salary with the Trump Organization, Bienstock has a bright future ahead, according to his parents, and he has already received numerous offers. "He is going to have so many opportunities," said Flora Bienstock. "He didn't come away with the car, but he's still a winner."
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
