June Scott Obituary

JUNE SCOTT 1923 – 2008 PROMINENT BEVERLY HILLS REAL ESTATE BROKER June Scott, a legend in the real estate business since her first Beverly Hills transaction in the 1960's, died March 24, after a prolonged illness. She was 84. Scott made her mark specializing in high-end estate properties, many of them owned by multi-millionaire business executives and entertainment industry celebrities. June Scott was born in Brooklyn, New York, taught elementary school in the New York City school system and had neither interest nor experience in real estate until she moved to Southern California in 1961 with her late husband, Barry Scott. Once she made the decision to try her hand at residential real estate, Scott knew that she had found her calling. Within a few years, she was a fully licensed broker with her own boutique company, June Scott and Associates, located in Beverly Hills. By the late 1970's her business was so successful that she opened offices on the Sunset Strip, Brentwood and Pacific Palisades. One of the hallmarks of Scott's leadership was her regularly scheduled meetings attended by all of her associates. Her early training as a teacher combined with her encyclopedic knowledge of current events, market conditions and the intricacies of highend real estate gave her lectures tremendous authority and she often spoke for more than an hour without notes. Many of the associates who attended those sessions went on to other real estate companies, but all acknowledge their debt to her training. Bill Farley, retired Vice President of Playboy Enterprises, who served as June Scott's advertising manager at the time recalls that, "June was a force of nature. Her vast knowledge of her subject and dynamic delivery were captivating. If her meetings had been recorded or videotaped, they would be a teaching tool still in use today, not only for real estate agents and brokers, but for any professional dealing with the general public." As her business continued to grow, Scott added another innovation to her list. Because she felt that the plethora of everyday real estate advertisements were boring and uninformative, she created a vehicle for her own voice that she called "Did You Know?" Begun as a regular "column" within her advertisements, these humorous mini-essays introduced her to a vast audience of potential buyers and sellers and gave her a personality and visibility no other broker could match. Her only criteria were that her readers should get a good laugh and that each message be capped off with another good reason why anyone considering a premium property transaction should call or drop by her office "right here in the heart of Beverly Hills." The columns were a successful marketing tool that she continued on and off for 25 years. As the real estate market changed and consolidation became the trend, Scott closed her office and merged with the Jon Douglas Company in 1992. When the Coldwell Banker Residential Services' national network acquired the Jon Douglas Company, June Scott became Co-Executive Director of the Beverly Hills luxury home Division of Coldwell Banker Previews International. Over the decades, Scott's personal list of clients has read like a Who's Who of the celebrity world, including such luminaries as Barry Diller, Sandy Gallin, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Peter O'Malley, Aaron and Candy Spelling, Sylvester Stallone and Barbra Streisand. A regular on the Beverly Hills social scene well into her 80's, Scott never appeared in public without being elegantly coiffed and dressed in appropriate high fashion. She was well known for her quick wit and even quicker laugh and always tempered her no-nonsense negotiations with compassion and concern for her clients and their interests. She is survived by her five children and three grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on April 17 at Hillside Memorial Park, 6001 Centinela Ave., Los Angeles. In lieu of flowers, a donation in memory of June to the charity of your choice would be appreciated.

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Published by Los Angeles Times on Apr. 13, 2008.

Memories and Condolences
for June Scott

Sponsored by Dr. Marc Hamer.

1 Entry

Dr. Marc Hamer

July 10, 2016

I left West Los Angeles and relocated to Westlake Village, California in 2001, to take care of my parents, so I was unaware of June Scott's passing until the funeral and memorial service had already taken place. I did speak with her son Peter Whyte in the succeeding weeks to express my condolences but this guest book provides me with a place to pay one final tribute June Scott, who was one of the great mentors in my life.

I met June Scott in 1976, after graduating from the Department of Theatre Arts at UCLA. Her office was very small at the time on the second floor of the 9388 Santa Monica Blvd Building. Along with Steve Moore, Ron de Salvo, Suzanne Brent, Margie Oswald, Jeri Weiss, Drew Mandile and Victoria Lockwood, I was supervised and personally trained by June. In the years that followed, the company grew to multiple offices and I went on to open my own company arranging brokerage sales in real estate and insurance and providing consulting services in several areas including advertising, sales, marketing, distribution and raising venture capital. Through the years, I would periodically run into June at Nate and Al's Deli or socially and she was always supportive of anything I was doing. When I saw June and Barry Scott Sr. walking on Rodeo drive in the summer of 1989, she asked how business was and I said that I was doing well but going back to school to get my doctorate in psychology to which she replied Call me when your ready, cause everyone I know needs therapy!

June was always busy, but never too busy to take my call and through the years of business transactions whenever I was negotiating any contract, her advice and the lessons that June taught me so many years before, helped me succeed over and over again.

When I last spoke with June, I told her that her teachings were ubiquitous in every negotiation and transaction that I have ever done or will do. She said it was one of the nicest compliments she ever had.

Great mentors have an eye for talent, they inculcate, nurture and develop their protégés and both benefit in the process. June was a longtime mentor, a learned colleague and a friend and it is with immense gratitude and reverence that I write this belated memoir. RIP June.

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