John H. Midby

1941 - 2015

John H. Midby

Real Estate Developer, John H. Midby passed away on May 5, 2015. John was born in Cut Bank, Montana to parents, Harry Midby and Almeta (Courtney) Midby on September 1, 1941. During his childhood, the family also lived in the states of Alaska, Washington, and Idaho.

As a young man in the wilds of the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest, John thrived on adventure in the outdoors. At the age of 16 he ran away from home to join the professional salmon fishing fleet in Alaska. It was a summer job that he would pursue for many years. Starting as a deckhand, he would become skipper of several boats before retiring after getting married. During his later high school days in Boise, Idaho he would alternate between being a rock band promoter competing with the likes of Paul Revere & the Raiders and being a clothing model for the downtown Boise department stores. He was constantly looking for new opportunities.

Following his fabled early careers as a skipper, promoter, and model, John and his new bride, Bonny Midby moved to Las Vegas in 1963 seeking new opportunities that Boise could not provide. Their welcome to Las Vegas was a drive down Fremont Street in their Chevy Impala, towing a U-Haul trailer, with $63 dollars in their pocket. Early short term jobs included stints as a security guard at several strip casinos and car salesman. Shortly thereafter, John got his start in the real estate world as manager of a multi-disciplined real estate brokerage, Fidelity Realty, a brokerage he later purchased. Fidelity's clients included numerous national developers and commercial investors, many of whom were looking to enter the burgeoning Western US real estate market for the first time. From those early experiences and relationships, John then established and operated for over 45 years, The Midby Companies. The Midby Companies and its various affiliate entities grew in several different areas of real estate development with world recognized and award winning projects in Southern Nevada and throughout the Southwestern and Northwest United States. In the 1970's, the Midby companies most notably was a land developer before later forming a homebuilding company, Durable Homes, that by the end of the decade was listed among the 100 largest homebuilder's in the nation. In the 1980's, Midby and team transformed the Sahara corridor with a 100 acre mixed use master plan that included The Plazas at First Western Square, and also ambitiously entered the Laughlin market where they'd be known for developing infrastructure, single and multi-family homes, school sites, casinos, and even an award winning golf course as part of the first phase of the Emerald River mega resort. While the 1990's were difficult times for The Midby Companies, with the collapse of financing that made realization of the completion of Emerald River not possible, John Midby persevered and continued development activities in Las Vegas by focusing on the development of new Apartment and Self-Storage properties. In anticipation of a local real estate bubble, John expanded his company to Seattle in 2004, and has spent many of the last 11 years developing a number of multi-family projects there. His lasting contribution to the Seattle skyline is the Escala condominium tower; a luxury high rise that was also the largest residential building in downtown Seattle at the time. Escala has been recognized by more than 2 dozen industry awards and is generally regarded as the highest quality residential address in Seattle. . Most recently, John and his team that includes both of his sons were very excited to embark on a project with UNLV to expand the on campus student housing options.

While John's long career was certainly made possible by his remarkable capability to adapt to market conditions and deliver premiere projects that met the consumer's demands, his infectious positive attitude and ability to inspire and motivate a team, even during the most challenging market conditions is of equal importance. John is remembered as ending tough meetings with the saying "At the end of the day, it's all going to be fabulous!" His mentorship & leadership will be missed by many.

John loved to work and never envisioned himself as slowing down or retiring, however, he did take time to frequently enjoy his favorite hobbies: fishing and hunting. He went on annual fishing trips and had many boats over the years, moored locally at Lake Mead and at marinas stretching from Mexico to Alaska. John was always proud to have his boat's hailing port listed as Las Vegas, Nevada. He also went on regular hunting excursions and was known to listen in on conference calls or dictate letters in a whispered voice from the duck blind. In addition to hunting and fishing, John loved cooking, he loved art, he loved design and he especially loved critiquing it.

Though he did not complete formal education beyond high school himself, John was passionate about education and dedicated a significant amount of his time and energy to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He was a board member on the Executive Committee of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Foundation, and also a Chair of the Research Foundation. Additionally, he sat on the Board of Directors of the Development Company established by the Research Foundation to build a 120-acre high tech research park in Las Vegas. He was very proud to be recognized as a Distinguished Nevadan by the Nevada System of Higher Education in 1987. John was an avid and highly emotional Runnin' Rebels fan.

John is survived by his wife of 52 years, Bonny; their sons, John Craig (Kathryn McFadden) and Eric; and granddaughters, Olivia and Simone. He is also survived by his sister, Rosemary; brother, Glenn; step mother, Mary; and step brothers Jimmy and Tommy. Also surviving are cousins, Carletta Allen (Dean) and Kent Midby (Cheryl) and many nieces and nephews. John was preceded in death by his parents, Harry Midby and Almeta Dean; his brother, Harry Midby; his cousin, Danny Midby; and nephew, Scot Midby.

A memorial reception for John will be held at Palm Eastern Mortuary, 7600 S Eastern Avenue, Las Vegas NV 89123 on Saturday, May 30, 2015, 3:00-5:00 pm. A private memorial reception will also be held in Seattle, WA.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the John Midby Scholarship Fund at UNLV. Checks may be made out to "UNLV Foundation" with "John Midby Scholarship Fund" in the memo line and mailed to: UNLV Foundation, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Box 451006, Las Vegas, NV 89154-1006; or, donations may be made online at: www.unlv.edu/foundation/give-online and selecting Tribute/Memorial Gifts.