George PEACOCK

Family-Placed Death Notice

PEACOCK, George GEORGE ROWATT PEACOCK Commercial Real Estate Leader George Rowatt Peacock passed away at his home in Atlanta, Georgia on July 11, 2012 at the age of 88. Born in Lakeland, Florida on August 27, 1923 to Scottish immigrants, Robert Peacock and Annie Kean Rowatt Peacock, Mr. Peacock spent his early years in Lakeland and was baptized in the Presbyterian Church. After the outbreak of World War II, Mr. Peacock volunteered and served with the U.S. Army Air Force from 1942 through 1945. A hero of the Greatest Generation, Mr. Peacock was awarded the Purple Heart and Three Campaign Stars. He graduated from the University of Florida with a B. A. degree in Political Science in 1948 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honorary societies. He attended graduate school at the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina where his studies were interrupted when he was called up and spent another year of active service with the U.S. Army Air Force during the first year of the Korean War. In 1952 Mr. Peacock joined The Equitable Life Society of the United States as a Trainee in the company's City Mortgage Division beginning a stellar 36 year career in commercial real estate with Equitable. Mr. Peacock was elected Eastern Regional Vice President in 1972. Two years later he was named officer in charge of Equitable's Real Estate Department, based in New York, NY. In 1978 he was elected Senior Vice President in charge of Equitable's burgeoning real estate equities investment sector. Under Mr. Peacock's leadership, Equitable's real estate portfolios shifted dramatically from pure mortgage investing to significant ownership of properties including the $200 million Tishman office portfolio comprising signature downtown office buildings located in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Cleveland, among other cities. During the same period, Equitable became owner of one of the largest retail property portfolios in the country, acquiring major shopping center packages from Dayton Hudson, Monumental Properties, and General Growth Properties. During this same time, Mr. Peacock also oversaw some of the earliest insurance company joint ventures with leading U.S. commercial real estate developers, such as the Oliver Carr Company in Washington, D. C. and the Galbraith Company in Louisville, KY. In 1977 Mr. Peacock negotiated the creation of a joint venture with Donald Trump for the development of Trump Tower on New York's 5th Avenue. Mr. Peacock became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Equitable Real Estate Investment Management, Inc. in 1984 when the company was organized as a wholly-owned subsidiary. He led the company into the investment advisory business during which Equitable Real Estate became the largest U. S. pension fund manager of real estate assets with $40 billion in assets under management in the 1980s. Mr. Peacock was a founding member of the Wharton Real Estate Center at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He also earned the Member of the Appraisal Institute (MAI) designation. Mr. Peacock retired from Equitable Real Estate in 1988. As impressive as Mr. Peacock's career was, those who worked with him remember him as a consummate gentleman who took time for everyone he encountered of whatever position, and as a mentor to many young professionals, particularly in the art of appraising. He was also passionate about his family and friends. Mr. Peacock is survived by his wife, Virginia Jenkins Peacock, Atlanta, his son, Robert George Peacock, New York City, and his two grandchildren. H.M. Patterson & Son-Oglethorpe Hill Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Internment was held privately at the Jenkins family plot in Lucedale MS. A memorial service will be held on Sunday August 12, 2012 at 2 P.M. at H. M. Patterson & Son - Oglethorpe Hill, 4550 Peachtree Road N. E., Atlanta GA 30319 (Phone 404-261-3510).