George L. Chapman III

1947 - 2023

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

George L. Chapman III, a longtime leader in real estate investment trusts, most recently as chief executive and co-founder of Toledo-based ReNew REIT, who served as a university trustee and community benefactor, died Wednesday in his Naples, Fla., residence. He was 75.

He'd suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage 22 days earlier, his family said.

Mr. Chapman, who also had a home in his native Maumee, retired in 2014 as chairman, president, and CEO of the publicly traded Health Care REIT, now called Welltower Inc.

According to a biography on the website of ReNew REIT, "Under his leadership, Health Care REIT's market capitalization rose to $15.5 billion from $394 million and enterprise value increased from $633 million to $25.9 billion. He facilitated the growth of the company to be the largest health care REIT, investment grade rated, a member of the S&P 500 and the eighth largest REIT."

His predecessor as chairman and CEO, Bruce Thompson cofounded the firm in 1970 with Frederic D. "Fritz" Wolfe. The pair were regarded as pioneers in forming a real estate investment trust dedicated to health care properties.

Mr. Chapman joined the firm in 1992 as executive vice president and general counsel and became chairman and CEO four years later.

The growth in Health Care REIT included new sub-sectors, new countries, and new investment structures, wrote Scott Brinker, president and chief executive of Healthpeak Properties in Denver, and a former Welltower executive, in an email to his employees.

"The entire health care REIT sector owes him a debt of gratitude. What is now a $200 billion sector was just a rounding error of that number when he took over as CEO in 1992," Mr. Brinker wrote.

"He rewarded performance. He loved to learn. He was the sharpest mind I ever worked with," wrote Mr. Brinker who credited Mr. Chapman with getting him into the health care REIT sector. "He focused on what mattered, and found a way to ignore the rest. Above all, he gave me so many opportunities. If I could give a young person only one piece of career advice, it would be to find a boss who is exceptionally bright and takes a personal interest in your success. George certainly qualifies.

"Today is a horribly sad day for me, and yet at the same time I feel so grateful," Mr. Brinker wrote.

In 2018, Mr. Chapman helped start ReNew as a privately held real estate investment trust specializing in senior housing communities.

"A pillar in the industry and the community, George was a caring and generous man," the firm said in a statement posted on its website. "We are proud to carry on his legacy and continue his work in seniors housing. George was our fearless leader, and he will be greatly missed."

Mr. Chapman was appointed a trustee of the Medical College of Ohio in 1999 by then-Gov. Bob Taft and was board chairman of its successor, the Medical University of Ohio, as that institution and the University of Toledo merged in 2006. He was a UT trustee emeritus in December, 2022, when the UT board named him to a two-year term as a nonvoting "national trustee."

"He just loved Toledo and loved Maumee and was extremely passionate about making the community a better community at any turn," his wife, Leslie Chapman, said. "He was a proud member of the board of trustees of the University of Toledo, the Toledo Museum of Art, and [Toledo] Symphony, and many other organizations."

A basketball standout at Maumee High School and Cornell University, Mr. Chapman and his wife in 2016 donated $1 million for the construction of a basketball office complex at Savage Arena.

"George was a public school kid, and he was very proud of the fact that he went to Cornell. His heart has always been in Toledo," said longtime friend Lynn Olman. "He wanted the University of Toledo to become as much as it could as a Toledo staple."

The Chapmans extended their hospitality to UT coaches and players, last November serving a Thanksgiving feast as the men's basketball team took part in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla.

"He's an unbelievable friend," said Tod Kowalczyk, UT men's basketball coach. "More importantly he was a great role model and a mentor of mine."

Mr. Kowalczyk has written down advice Mr. Chapman offered: "Never forget you're a teacher positively affecting these men for the rest of their lives."

"He said it to me a dozen times at least," Mr. Kowalczyk said. "It's very accurate."

"He treated people with respect," Mr. Kowalczyk also said. "He had a presence about him, and he was just tremendously intelligent about a lot of things in life. He had such an influence on a lot of parts of this community."

The coach recalled his friend's passion for basketball - and his wit.

"If he wasn't on you and jabbing at you, he didn't like you. It was like a badge of honor," Mr. Kowalczyk said.

Mr. Chapman was born May 18, 1947, to the former Betsy Idtse and George L. Chapman, Jr. He played basketball, football, and baseball at Maumee High School, where his teammate Mr. Olman was a former archrival when they played on competing youth sports teams. Their friendship endured and they reunited as roommates after Mr. Chapman graduated from Cornell and Mr. Olman from Ohio University. They were best men in each other's weddings.

"I couldn't have had a better best friend," Mr. Olman said.

Mr. Chapman for a time taught history and economics at Maumee Valley Country Day School, where he also coached basketball and football. He received a law degree from the University of Chicago, began his law career with a firm in Minnesota and, in 1982, became a partner in the Toledo law firm of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick.

"George has always been extremely cerebral," said Mr. Olman, a former Ohio state representative and a retired insurance agency owner. "The law interested him because it was a challenge and it called for creativity."

The friends in recent years had a date to play backgammon at 5 p.m. every day they were in town together, whether in Maumee or Naples.

"He was one of the most competitive people I know and one of the most generous I've ever known," Mr. Olman said.

Mr. Chapman was formerly married to the late Deborah Retterer Chapman.

Surviving are his wife, Leslie Chapman; sons Caith Chapman, Brian Chapman, and Eric Chapman; stepdaughter Elise Ansberg; sister, Connie Dillon, and five grandchildren.

A service will be scheduled in May at the Toledo Museum of Art, Mrs. Chapman said. Arrangements are by the Ansberg-West Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to the Panther Pride Foundation to benefit the Maumee schools.