“No, no, Lynn, you’re wrong.” Then we pulled out the plans (and that probably happened six or seven times) and he was right every single time. He would amaze contractors. I remember fairly recently Slade Opheikins of R&O said, “Whenever we had a meeting with Lynn, I’d tell our people, you guys got to be right on top of this. Make sure you’ve studied everything because Lynn will catch us on anything that we’re off.” Jeff: He worked almost 24 hours a day for 38 years. He would wake up in the middle of the night and be thinking about something, and you’d get an email or a text from him, verbally dictated or typed with his thumbs. Hardly ever did we miss a deadline because we were waiting on him since he was constantly working. Our father had kind of that gift as well. Sometimes, I’d think he was sleeping and the next thing you know, he’d pop awake, and he’d say, “Well, this is what we need to do.” And it was like he heard the whole conversation that was going on when his eyes were shut. Lynn took it to another level. He’d constantly work on a project and visualized what steps needed to be taken in order to get something done. He was involved in the design, construction, and the development of so many buildings. A design could come to us from another architect, and he would know right away that we would be way, way over budget. He would spend a lot of time both with contractors and architects on how to understand the business aspect of building a building and explain to them that, “There’s too much common area here,” or “This is really beautiful, but there’s no way the tenant can afford to pay for this.” He had a way of coming up with a beautiful solution that was more in line with what was practical and affordable for a project. Even outside architects would be very, very complimentary of his vision of how to economically solve problems for tenants. Do you know which projects were among his favorites? Rick: He really liked the Holiday Inn because he was able to participate in all aspects of it. I think he was really proud of the remodels at the University Mall. Jeff: Recently, somebody asked him that question at one of our investor meetings. He said he liked the future. He was always looking forward to the future, and so he named the projects that we were working on that he was really excited about. Lynn would dedicate an equal amount of effort on a small pad for a tenant as we would for military contractor at an Air Force base. I brought him some projects that I must say were not very sexy. He had a way of being able to make sure that the tenant could afford it, a way of making sure that the project worked, even if it didn’t have that overwhelming design piece to it. Lynn always made projects better. I just have to be so thankful for that. I knew when an architect brought a plan, Lynn could say, “Well, this doesn’t make sense, we should need to lay this out this way.” He’d work with somebody in our office by verbally explaining to him how to readjust it to get more space out of it or get another apartment or remove a hallway and make something more efficient. I told partners many times, “This needs to be approved by Lynn to make sure that we’re solving this the most efficient way.” Lynn had a way of challenging architects to do a better job and of motivating contractors to understand that they needed to toe the line, and they needed to be really proficient in their work. He was so broad in spectrum that sometimes I asked him, “So are you an architect or are you a developer?” And he would always tell me, “I’m an architect.” And I’m like, “Well, I think you’re a developer.” But he’d say, “No, you’re the developer. I’m the architect”. That was the badge that he carried, but he did so much more. Last thoughts? Rick: Sometimes, I would read in People magazine about amazing people and the things they’ve done, especially if I’d read about a quadriplegic. I would always think, “My brother has done way more than this,” but he never insisted on a lot of publicity or a lot of credit for things. He just did the job. I think his legacy is an example of a person who had faith, who had courage, who persevered under severe physical hardship. He was pretty unselfish. He didn’t want a lot of credit, and to some extent, I feel he’s an unsung hero. Jeff: Before he was injured, we used to golf a lot together and we used to always talk about how you can’t think about the shot you just hit. You have to hit the next shot; all your focus should be on that next shot. When he got injured, they told us that he had maybe 10 years to live. He lived 38 years locked in a body that he couldn’t physically do anything with. And every day of his life, he was always looking forward to the next shot. 15
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