Sunday, November 15, 2009

ON THE PASSING OF A DEAR FRIEND

A close and dear friend of mine, Allan Gantt, passed away on Friday from pancreatic cancer. Allan was the former managing broker for my firm in California and someone who exemplified “walking the talk” when it came to ethics, character and competence.

Allan managed over 1,000 agents in our company, and with that many agents and transactions, disputes were inevitable. Yet Allan won people over with his pragmatic approach to solving problems and his ability to bring out the best in people. Allan’s job was to deal with problems, yet he navigated litigious minefields with a smile on his face and cheer in his heart. And rarely was there a problem or conflict that he could not mediate to a peaceful solution.

Allan loved baseball, and he often made his Dodgers season tickets available to Sherry and I. Each spring he would pack up and head for Arizona with a group of baseball buddies he had known for decades, watching spring training games for a week in the warm Arizona sun and enjoying the finest restaurants in Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and Phoenix. We bumped into Allan on a few occasions, as we also loved to make the rounds of the Cactus League, and without fail Allan would invite us to join his group for dinner or take in a show.

Allan Gantt was one of those rare people who improved morale just by walking into the room. He was a friend to hundreds in the Southern California real estate community, and he will be sorely missed.

I have traded emails with many former colleagues this weekend concerning Allan’s untimely death, and without fail the sentiment is the same: we have lost someone who routinely brought out the best in others and helped all of us to “raise our game” in real estate.

He will be missed in many ways, and we send our deepest sympathies to those who were closest to him.