Induction of George and Judy Marcus | 77th Annual Dinner and Business Hall of Fame

Please welcome Michael Shaw, who's the chairman and chief executive officer of Essex Property Trust.

Good evening. Actually, I'm just the CEO of Essex Property Trust because the chairman is, of course, George Marcus, who I'm here to introduce. So, don't want to mess that one up. George, I didn't tell them I was chairman, just to be clear.

I'm here tonight to tell you a little bit about my experience with our next honorees. These are two people that I greatly admire and respect deeply, and that is George and Judy Marcus.

I can't see him either. I'm wondering what George is thinking right now though. There he is. Okay, very good. Anyway, I thank the Bay Area Council for recognizing George and Judy. They are amazing people. I've known them for a very long time. I started working at Marcus & Millichap 36 years ago, and it was a wonderful experience back then, and I never left and never will leave either, by the way, George.

There are things about the company that I'll get to in a minute, but first I wanted to say a few things about George and Judy. The first one that comes to mind is that they have been together for over 50 years.

They have many interests, and one of the ones that I think is most interesting to me is they do a lot of traveling. They go to places that you wouldn't necessarily think of because they have interests that are understanding different cultures, different countries, how political systems work. They've been to some very unusual places and are incredibly well traveled.

I've been working with George for many years, and there are some unique things about our association. I would call George a serial entrepreneur. He sees something interesting in almost everything. He sees opportunity where other people really don't see it, and then he builds companies around those opportunities. To watch him work is truly extraordinary. I've never quite seen anything like it.

Most people will focus on one business or a couple of businesses. George looks at many things, many opportunities that are pretty wide-ranging, obviously real estate but beyond that, several other areas as well.

I think about his success in the real estate area. He has two large public companies, both of which he founded in the 1970s, both companies that have grown and become very large companies. Then he has I don't know how many private companies as well. Whereas most people will focus on growing one company, George has been able to continue to create and grow.

As an employee and a business partner of George, there are so many of us that are incredibly loyal to him because there is a synergistic approach to what he does. He pulls together people of different talents and different skills and puts them together, and the result of that is much greater than the sum of the parts. I don't know exactly how he does it. I wish I could do that, but it's an extraordinary talent.

I would go one step further because he has gone from real estate into the restaurant world. The restaurant world is incredibly challenging, and most restaurateurs have serious problems along the way. George and Judy go into the restaurant business and they create Kokkari and Evvia, which are two of the most popular restaurants in the Bay Area. Along with our partners, these are extraordinary things that they're able to do. It's difficult to understand exactly how the pieces fit together, but an extraordinary example of what mankind can do.

Then I would go to philanthropy. That's the next step. There will be a long list of very worthy causes that the Marcuses are involved with. I think that they'll take their talents and their abilities and apply them there, and the result of that is something I can't predict because I suspect it will once again be greater than the sum of the parts.

So, without further ado, I wanted to say, George, thank you for asking me to present up here and introduce you. You're an extraordinary man. Judy, you're an extraordinary woman. I'm so pleased to know you. I think that everyone, please join me in recognizing George and Judy Marcus.

George Marcus learned early in life the importance and value of hard work. It would help him build a massive real estate empire and, together with wife Judy, become one of the Bay Area's biggest philanthropists. The son of Greek immigrants, Marcus came to San Francisco with his parents in the early 40s with almost nothing. To support the family, his father dug ditches, opened a coffee house, and bought and sold property. He started from scratch more than once. But while his father always longed to return to Greece, Marcus saw opportunity and a bright future in America. Military service offered him a way forward and a way up, enabling him to save money for college and a new start of his own. Graduating from San Francisco State University, where he met Judy, Marcus wasted no time jumping into the business world. 'I thought about my undergraduate activities as I was working, like the rest of you, going to school and trying to get a degree.' With his strong work ethic and keen entrepreneurial knack, Marcus launched his own real estate business in Palo Alto in 1971 with an eye toward innovating and modernizing the industry. Did he ever, breaking the grip of an old boys' network and introducing revolutionary innovations that would transform and professionalize the real estate industry. With Judy in the early years supporting their family as a teacher, George spent long hours developing and refining a new real estate business model and hiring and training the agents who would execute it. 'Life is a wonderful and exciting journey. I think all of us have experienced this. It is a challenge, and it's the kind of thing that we all relish. But essentially, it's about picking your partners over the next years.' With partner William Millichap, Marcus & Millichap became a real estate behemoth, the largest firm in the nation, spanning hundreds of offices and employing thousands. Along the way, Marcus founded or led numerous other successful real estate, financial, and investment companies, including Essex Property Trust and SummerHill Homes, the largest homebuilder in the Bay Area. He became a major player in Democratic political circles and served on the California State University Board of Trustees and later the University of California Board of Regents. Real estate is not Marcus's only passion. Seeking to improve the availability and quality of Greek food in the region, Marcus even found time to launch two award-winning restaurants, Kokkari in San Francisco and Evvia in Palo Alto. 'One week, I had three billionaires call me up and try to get reservations at Kokkari. Three billionaires. They wouldn't talk to me about real estate, never.' Philanthropy would also become a central focus for the Marcuses. Through their George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation, they've donated tens of millions of dollars to support a wide range of programs focused on education, community health and social services, religion, economic opportunity, and the arts. 'Hopefully our gift will encourage others to give back and make it a number one place in the country.' They've donated almost 30 million dollars to San Francisco State University to establish the George and Judy Marcus Funds for Excellence in the Liberal Arts and the International Center for the Arts, and they volunteered their time and leadership on a multitude of nonprofit boards. As a four-year-old arriving in San Francisco with his parents from a small island in Greece, George Marcus may not have known what the American dream was, but a lifetime of hard work, success, and giving back offers no finer definition.

I just want to say I feel very honored for both of us to be here with all of you who are so successful in all your businesses. My philanthropic side says just give back when you can to your local community because we all need help. So thank you, thank you so much for honoring us.

So please welcome Lynn Mahoney, who is the president of San Francisco State University, who's going to ask a couple of questions of George and Judy. Lynn.

First, let me just echo what Michael said earlier. It's such an honor to join the Bay Area Council tonight to celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of George and Judy Marcus. We saw in the video the kind of example you're setting in the philanthropic world. How did you, what inspired you, what were the origins of getting involved, and what are your goals? What would you like to see?

To pivot to business, and in some ways this is also about education, you entered the real estate profession as a disrupter. That's what you're encouraging all of us to do in all of our fields. How has your approach changed and evolved over the last 50 years?

I think as I look at the number of women in the room, your point about a working wife was well received earlier. You know, you lifelong residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area, we could see in the video how much the cities changed during your lives here. There's a lot of handwringing right now about the future of the Bay Area. What's your outlook for the region, both in terms of business, philanthropy, arts, education, culture? How are you feeling about the future of the Bay Area right now?

Judy, George, just quickly, any words of advice for emerging philanthropists in the group?

I didn't even ask him to say that. Please join me in congratulating George and Judy.