New Orleans real estate leader Bob Merrick dies at 80 | Business News
Robert “Bob” Merrick, a businessman, civic leader and philanthropist who grew New Orleans-based Latter & Blum from a small residential real estate firm into one of the largest commercial and residential brokerages in the Gulf South before selling it last year, died Monday.
He was 80 and died after a lengthy battle with cancer, according to family members.
Friends and business colleagues said Merrick possessed a razor-sharp mind and tireless work ethic. Above all, though, he was remembered Monday for his generosity to New Orleans and Louisiana charities. In 2014, he became the first person to give a $1 million gift to the United Way of Southeast Louisiana. Five years later, he was awarded The Times-Picayune Loving Cup.
“I don’t know anyone who has donated as much time, energy and money to the community as Bob has,” said developer Paul Flower, who knew Merrick for 60 years and worked with him on various real estate projects, including the conversion of the World Trade Center into a Four Seasons Hotel. “He was an unbelievable individual, a very good businessman, a joy to work with and he cared deeply about this city and its people more than anyone I know.”
Bob Merrick, Latter & Blum chairman and owner, holds the 2019 Loving Cup on Monday, September 21, 2020 at the real estate firm’s headquarters in New Orleans.
Merrick came from humble roots. His father died when he was 14. He began working in a real estate a few years later, while still in high school. His stepfather owned a commercial real estate appraisal firm and taught him how to run real estate records, according to a 2019 profile.
After graduating from Tulane University in 1967 and serving two years in the U.S. Air Force, he returned to the real estate business, shifting his attention from appraising property to developing and brokering industrial space.
By the mid-1980s, he had become the largest owner of warehousing and distribution space in the New Orleans area.
“People probably don’t realize how much industrial property in this market was developed by Bob Merrick,” said Paul Richard, a commercial broker with NAI Latter & Blum and one of countless local real estate agents who learned the ropes from Merrick over the years. “He was a great man.”
In 1986, Merrick purchased Latter & Blum, which was founded in 1916 and doing about $350 million a year in sales at the time. Over the ensuing decades, he expanded the company through a series of mergers with brokerages across the state. He eventually grew its footprint into Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. At its peak before the pandemic, the company’s sales volume topped $6 billion.
“He was the idea guy with a knack for always finding great deals,” said Joe Exnicios, a longtime friend and former president of Hancock Whitney Bank. “I asked him once why he always had partners in his deals. He said it made it more fun.”
In 2019, Merrick named his daughter Lacey Merrick Conway as Latter & Blum’s CEO, though he remained chairman.
“He was adored by so many and gave so much for the city he loved,” Conway said Monday in a statement.
Last April, Merrick announced they were selling the company to the publicly traded Compass Real Estate, the largest residential brokerage in the U.S., a decision that he said was bittersweet.
From left to right, Chip Gardner, Crystal Gardner, Sharon Gardner, Glenn Gardner, Lacey M. Conway and Bob Merrick stand together after announcing Latter & Blum’s acquisition of Gardner Realtors in New Orleans, La. Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
New Orleans-based Rampart Wurth Holding, founded by another longtime Merrick colleague, Joseph Pappalardo Sr., has since purchased the commercial division of NAI Latter & Blum back from Compass.
“He had a great real estate mind,” said developer Pres Kabacoff. “I watched him through his whole career and when you talked to people who worked with him, they would say when they were absolutely at a loss to solve a problem, they’d go see Bobby.”
Over the years, Merrick, known for an understated and genteel demeanor, parlayed his business success into civic and charitable endeavors, serving on numerous boards and, more often than not, making financial contributions behind the scenes. The United Way gift was likely one of many $1 million donations Merrick made, Exnicios said.
“That’s just the only one we heard about,” he said. “Bobby saw wealth as a gift, never a weapon.”
Among the organizations Merrick supported were the Red Cross, University of New Orleans, Ochsner Health System, Boy Scouts of Southeast Louisiana, Son of A Saint, Ruth U. Fertel Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Fore Kids Foundation, and Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans.
His list of honors includes the National Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year Award and the UNO Chancellor’s Medallion for Distinguished Service, the New Orleans Council for Community & Justice’s Weiss Award, and the Loving Cup.
“He was deeply civic, the epitome of what you would hope to find in a CEO,” Kabacoff said. “He will be missed.”
Merrick is survived by his wife and four daughters. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Staff writer Anthony McAuley contributed to this report.