wien was born to a jewish family in new york city. he had four siblings: mortimer e wien, sidney a. wien, leonard wien, and ms. bernard t. hein. in 1925, wien graduated with a b.a. from columbia college and in 1927, he graduated with a j.d. from columbia law school. in 1928, he co-founded the law firm, wien malkin & bettex which became a leading national law firm specializing in real estate law. in 1931, he ventured into real estate and, along with three partners who invested $2,000 apiece, bought a small apartment house in harlem. in the 1930s, using his legal background, wien pioneered the concept of real estate syndicates making direct ownership of income property accessible to groups of individual investors for the first time. in 1958, his son in law peter l. malkin joined the firm as a partner (renamed wien & malkin llp). his syndicates purchased or controlled through long term ground leases many of new york city's most prominent landmarks including the empire state building (which he bought with partner harry helmsley in 1961 from henry crown), the equitable building, the graybar building, the fisk building, the garment centre capitol building, the fifth avenue building, the lincoln building as well as many prominent hotels including the plaza hotel, the taft hotel, hotel st. moritz, the lexington hotel, and the hotel governor clinton. he also participated in transactions in newark, palm beach, philadelphia, los angeles, minneapolis, and las vegas.