Dedicated to the memory of Professor Gerald Brown

Citation

French, N. and Levy, D. (2004), "Dedicated to the memory of Professor Gerald Brown", Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Vol. 22 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpif.2004.11222faa.001

Dedicated to the memory of Professor Gerald Brown

As many of you will know, Gerald Brown died in May 2002 following a heroic, and always good spirited, fight against cancer. Gerald was the co-editor of this journal from 1999 and he was instrumental in steering the editorial policy during his short tenure. It was an honour to work with Gerald.

This issue is a small, and probably inadequate, attempt by those who worked with him to pay tribute to a special friend, mentor, supervisor and colleague. Gerald was a very dignified British academic with an eclectic background and blessed vision of what could be achieved with effort and dedication.

Some of us knew Gerald from his time at City University in London, some from when he was Professor at Salford University, and some from his time abroad in Auckland and Singapore. No matter the point of first reference, we all share a genuine and sincere love for a man who touched our lives with kindness and humour. Gerald was one of the world’s celebrated property academics. Professor Austin Jaffe described him as “a brilliant and serious thinker”.

Gerald’s career as an academic leader peaked when he was appointed Professor of Real Estate Investment and Finance and Director of Real Estate Research at the National University of Singapore. He had by this time undertaken a number of major consultancy projects and published numerous papers in international academic and professional journals. He was a joint editor of the Journal of Property Investment & Finance, and on the editorial boards of many other internationally refereed academic journals.

He wrote two books. The first, Property Investment and Capital Markets, was seminal in real estate as it stretched and influenced many academics and practitioners in their thinking about property as an investment. This was followed by a second book, co-authored by George Matysiak, called Real Estate Investment – A Capital Market Approach. This book has become essential reading for all involved in property investment and finance. Professor Charles Ward stated “it is rare for authors who write advanced material in investment to be so considerate to the reader. The text is clear and explanations are comprehensive – a model of pedagogical clarity”. Professor Graeme Newell described the book as “one of the most rigorous and comprehensive texts available in property investment. It is an excellent text that will be in regular use throughout undergraduate, postgraduate and professional careers of future property professionals”.

Apart from being such an outstanding scholar, Gerald was also someone who touched all his colleagues with his wit and sense of humour. Over and above all of this Gerald will be remembered by all his colleagues as a genuinely nice person, a great mate, a kind and warm human being and a gentle soul.

In this issue a number of his colleagues have chosen to publish their work in his memory. The subjects are all close to Gerald’s heart and we hope that in some small way that this issue is a fitting tribute to the legacy that Gerald has left behind.

Nick French The University of Reading, Reading, UKDeborah LevyThe University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand