IIJournals JPM-Special Real Estate Article Collection | Page 17

world, but Susan did far better than most, because of her
openness and thoughtful interpretation of change.
That is what I miss most about her, in addition to
her longtime friendship, which deepened over time as
one of her children became an undergraduate at the university where I teach. She would have made a great academic, but the industry is better off for her not choosing
that path.
—Joe Gyourko
I feel incredibly fortunate to have met Susan early
in my career in institutional real estate, and to have
remained close friends and colleagues. Even when I first
got to know her, at a time when the industry itself was
just coming into its own, I could see that she would be
an esteemed leader under whose guidance and through
whose vision property investment would rise to greater
respect and prominence. Through indelible contributions to real estate theory and research, and by leading
numerous industry groups—including the Pension Real
Estate Association during her successful six-year tenure
as chairperson—Susan assumed that important role.
Working with Susan was a great pleasure, not only
because she brought her keen intellect to our collaborations, but because her humor and congenial personality
were apparent in each conversation and every interaction. I know I speak for us all in expressing how greatly
she will be missed. After all, the two words that best
describe Susan come from her own favorite saying:
“wicked cool.”
—Gail Haynes
Susan was an inspiration, for the industry, for
research, and for me personally. For the industry: in all
her work to bring insight and transparency to real estate,
and to help it stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other asset
classes. For research: in making it relevant and independent—relevant, as it was always too important to be left
for researchers and needed to engage CEOs, and independent, as it was all too easy for research to fall foul of
conflicts through the investment process. For me personally: in so many ways. In the way she plucked me from
little old England to give me opportunities in the United
States and globally, in the confidence she showed in me
and her staff on even the most important projects and
clients, in her passion and contagious enthusiasm for all
that she worked on, her shrewdness, her generosity, her
sense of fun and, above all, her loyalty and dedication
28      R emembering Susan Hudson-Wilson

to her family and friends. She was, and remains, a huge
inspiration to me and, I’m sure, to so many people in the
world of real estate.
—Peter Hobbs
Susan, through hard work and a truly unique personality, helped legitimatize real estate as a respectable
asset class. She was able to convince both investors and
managers that high-quality research was important, if
not crucial, to real estate investment success.
With her trademark long silver hair and quirky
“Maine-isms” (“sparky,” ”wicked,” etc.), she was dazzling whether she was sailing Penobscot Bay or explaining
the Four Quadrants. She is greatly missed.
—Ted Leary
I knew of Susan before I met her. The first words I
heard her speak came at a NCREIF meeting in the early
1990s, when she urged NCREIF data contributors to
“free the damn data.” I have clear memories of virtually
all the times our paths crossed: That’s how exceptional
Susan was. Her drive to understand how real estate performed and to uncover the nuances that separated one
property from another, one market from another, benefited us all. Her ability to synthesize complex patterns
into simple, concise statements inspired me. Her goal
to make a difference was evident in everything she did.
On top of all this, she was fun, with a sparkling sense of
humor and the readiness to throw a bomb into a stuffy
conversation to wake everyone up for a real, genuine
discussion. Susan summed up in two words: catalytic
and indelible. I am honored to have known her.
—Mary Ludgin
I can’t say that I knew Susan well on a personal
level, but I had heard about her long before I joined
the research group at RREEF. She was viewed as a
shrewd strategic thinker, capable of applying current
macro trends to the real estate sector and devising a practical and implementable blueprint for profitable property investing. In a white male–dominated industry, the
fact that she was female made her all the more interesting. Each Monday morning, entering our acquisition
meeting, all my colleagues, typically white men with
white shirts and seemingly identical Hermès ties, would
always be interested in anything that Susan was thinking
or predicting. The fact that she was well respected not
only as a researcher but as a strategist also made me
Special R eal Estate Issue 2013