"With the passing of someone like Geraldine,
I have lost a great light in my life, the Bay Area
has lost a light, the world of real estate investment
has lost a light...and the world has lost a light."
Ger’s transition away from
SJREI was just as seamless and
strategic as everything else she
did. On New Year’s Eve, 2014,
Ger called me up and declared,
“I’ve decided to sell my club
and magazine do you know
anyone who wants to buy it?”. I
said I didn’t know of
anyone...off the top of my head.
As our call ended, however, I
heard a voice inside my head
say, “Yes...you know someone.
You do.” I pondered for just a
moment and called her back. I
said, “Ger, I think I want to buy
it. I don’t know how but I am
interested.” She said “great,
we’ll figure it out after the
holidays!”...and figure it out we
did!
By March 2015, the deal was
sealed and Geraldine was
excited to have a respite to
explore other passions in her
life. She could see that she had
created a strong community of
investors with SJREI, and that
this community would continue
to shine bright in the Bay Area
for many decades to come. I
truly consider it the greatest
honor and privilege that Ger
tapped me to pick up where she
left off.
All too often, those of us who
roll up our sleeves and commit
fully to our professional lives
find our personal lives lacking:
this was not the case for Ger.
An inspirational mother, Ger
loved her children with the
same intensity she brought to
her work. She filled her
children’s lives with
enrichment, opportunity,
love...and was also not afraid to
make the hard decisions to
ensure the best outcomes for
them. She took the greatest
pride in their accomplishments
over the years, and was always
bubbling with joy about what
they had done, were doing, and
were planning to do.
She was also the friend who
always was available to anyone
in pain or in need: she would
open her house, bring them in,
and give them a hug. When you
87
were lucky enough to be a friend
of Ger’s, you got regular ‘friend
therapy’ sessions out on her back
deck served up alongside a glass
of wine.
Maybe one of the secrets to
her success in her professional
and personal lives was that for
Ger, the two weren’t mutually
exclusive. A brilliant woman, she
was always thinking and
strategizing and this just couldn’t
be turned off. Sharing wine with
friends, for example, could lead
to forging connections that would
benefit someone she knew. SJREI
meetings and events were also
opportunities for her children: she
put them to work and made them
responsible for various tasks, I
was inspired how she instilled in
them, at a young age, the value of
their time and brainpower.