IIJournals JPM-Special Real Estate Article Collection | Page 14

Maine, I think. Well, as the drunk on the Titanic said,
“I asked for ice in my drink, but this is ridiculous.” We
got much more than we bargained for: not only an irrepressible, unstoppable force that understood and believed
in applied research for better decision making and risk
management, we had our own Moses handing down the
commandments and leading us to the Promised Land…
and indeed she did.
Aside from her passion, what made Susan so effective is that she was a quant, so you could discuss issues
with her objectively and on the merits. While she was
never wrong, occasionally Susan would agree that that
there might be another perspective worthy of consideration. Not being someone who necessarily likes to be
disagreed with, much less proven wrong, I took a while
to warm to this new personality, but over time I came not
only to respect Susan but to consider her a dear friend.
We had all sorts of fun together over the years,
including her roast of me one stormy night on the occasion of my retirement as chairman of PREA (complete
with embarrassing pictures from AEW employee retreats,
which have hopefully been destroyed as she promised?
John, please confirm!). We also shared experiences on
ULI trips, walking the Great Wall and among the warriors of Xian in China, and cruising the Nile to explore
Egyptian antiquities and archeological sites. Maybe the
most fun we had was when my wife and I stayed with
Susan and John on their island in Maine, talking about
marine agriculture, family, politics (they were thinking
about the possible secession of Chebeague Island from
the State of Maine, or was it the United States?), and
feasting long into the cool evening on lobster harvested
from their traps.
Susan was one of a kind, and I miss her greatly.
—Joe Azrack
Bad business school guidance led me to an initial
career in commercial real estate research, but fate led
me to Susan 24 years ago. Working with Susan and
that small group of cutting-edge c