[2][3] Steiner was born to a Jewish family[4] and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in civil engineering.
Originally focused on industrial real estate, he re-directed its investments to commercial office parks and retail properties.
[5] He resigned his AIPAC Presidency in November 1992 after Haim Katz, a New York real estate developer, secretly recorded a telephone conversation with him and released it to The Washington Times.
[8] Steiner told Katz he had significant influence over American foreign policy and the selection of US political leaders.
I know him on a personal basis.... One of my friends is Hillary Clinton's scheduler, one of my officer's daughters works there.
I have Michael Mandelbaum and Martin Indyk being foreign policy advisers... Steve Spiegel.... We have Bill Clinton's ear.
"In an effort to encourage and impress what I thought was a potential political activist calling on the telephone," Steiner said, "I made statements which went beyond over-zealousness and exaggeration and were simply and totally untrue.
Steiner supported a number of Jewish causes including the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, the Rachel Coalition, and the National Yiddish Book Center where he funded the Steiner Summer Internship Program.