Mahlon “Sandy” Apgar IV, influential real estate strategist, thought leader, and longtime ULI member, has passed away at the age of 82.
Throughout his storied career in real estate, housing, and urban development, Sandy Apgar was an advisor to senior industry leaders on strategy and management, a public official tasked with improving housing for military families, and a prolific author on topics such as new towns and public-private partnerships.
A ULI member for a half-century and a member of the ULI Foundation’s Julia Morgan Society and James J. Curtis Planned Giving Society, Apgar gave his time, talent, and treasure generously to support the Institute and advance its mission. He chaired three ULI product councils across several decades and was a member of the Public Development and Infrastructure Council (PDIC) at the time of his passing. In the early 1990s, he endowed what is now called the ULI Apgar Thought Leader Award. The biennial award encourages thought leadership in responsible land use by recognizing a ULI member who produces an exemplary article for Urban Land magazine on a topic related to innovation in development.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Apgar was educated at Dartmouth College, Magdalen College at Oxford University, and Harvard Business School, and he served three years in the U.S. Army. In After establishing himself as a real estate consultant, in 1980 he founded Apgar and Company, a real estate advisory firm specializing in corporate real estate strategy and management. In 1998, he was appointed by President Clinton as assistant secretary of the Army for installations and environment. In his role as a public servant—which he held until 2001—Apgar led efforts to improve the quality of housing on military bases through public-private partnerships.
“In a real estate career spanning over 60 years, where Sandy led both major private and public sector organizations, Sandy was a leader in New Towns, Public Private Partnerships, and Military Housing,” said Chuck Schilke, senior lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School’s Edward St. John Real Estate Program, and member of ULI’s PDIC product council. “As leader of both McKinsey’s and the Boston Consulting Group’s real estate consulting practices, he probably advised more senior real estate leaders than anyone else in his generation, in the U.S. and abroad. Within ULI, the Apgar Award he created will fittingly commemorate how much he promoted learning throughout his life and career. Surely Sandy is among the immortals of both the real estate profession and of ULI.”
“Sandy was a ULI leader who devoted his career to the public good, starting with traveling to Mississippi to promote civil rights in the ’60s, to rationalizing the Army’s real estate program, to helping his native city Baltimore overcome the many challenges facing legacy cities,” said Doug Abbey, former ULI global chair and current co-chair of the ULI Foundation Our Cities, Our Future capital campaign. “He was always kind, curious, thoughtful, and engaging. He loved ULI, cities, excellent writing, and of course his wonderful family. He was the best of ULI.”
Throughout his life of real estate consulting, thought leadership, public service, and philanthropy, Apgar demonstrated a deep commitment to building a better future for all. According to his self-published memoir, “The Counselor: Reflections on a Life of Service, Adventure, and Scholarship,” in 1962 he and a group of fellow Dartmouth students traveled by bus to the South in support of the Civil Rights movement. They wound up spending a night in a Jackson, Mississippi, jail.
“I have strived to be sensitive and attuned to the full range of viewpoints and experiences, and to incorporate these in building strong, vibrant, inclusive communities, including, most especially, my family,” Apgar wrote in the 2022 memoir. “Please approach your daily lives and work with open minds and hearts, and a positive attitude. Life has a way of surprising all of us; and if we approach challenges optimistically, we will find our work, and, indeed, our lives, to be rewarding.”
There are few who can match Sandy Apgar’s passion for the role of the built environment in shaping the future of communities. In all his endeavors, he embodied ULI’s values and mission. His innumerable contributions to ULI, the real estate industry, and the communities we serve will be felt for generations to come. ULI deeply mourns his passing, and we send our condolences to his beloved wife of 53 years Anne and to their three children and three grandchildren.