THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290517
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 57 lines
One of the region's patriarchs of commercial real estate and its first office specialist was remembered at a burial service Tuesday.
S. Barron Segar Sr., one of the founders of the firm Goodman Segar Hogan Hoffler, died Saturday at his Norfolk home just days before his 92nd birthday.
Segar founded Norfolk-based Goodman Segar Hogan in the mid-1940s. He lived to see the firm gain a reputation as one of the region's - if not the state's - titans in commercial and industrial real estate.
Segar, the office specialist at his firm, enjoyed fame as a star salesman. He single-handedly leased the old 21-story Virginia National Bank building, now the NationsBank building in downtown Norfolk, for $5.75 a square foot, more than double the $2.50 per square foot rate of neighboring buildings.
Segar was often quoted as theman who asked, ``Who would buy a 15-cent hamburger?'' The company he was referring to turned out to be a young upstart named McDonald's, looking for real estate sites for its fast-food restaurants. Although the anecdote was passed on to succeeding generations at Goodman Segar Hogan, Segar still maintained to friends that he'd never made a mistake in business.
Born in Warsaw, Va., in 1905, Segar graduated from St. Christopher's School in Richmond and the Virginia Military Institute.
He moved to Norfolk in 1926, where he worked in the shipping industry for two years. Three years later, Segar entered the real estate business, an industry where he would make a name for himself.
``He was a remarkable person who had an astonishing character,'' said Robert M. Stanton, who joined Goodman Segar Hogan in 1966. ``To him, things were black or white; it was either right or wrong. There were no marginal calls in Barron's book.''
In 1943, he formed the primarily residential Segar & Co. He merged his company with a rival but mutually admired firm, D.H. Goodman and Co., a commercial and industrial property specialist. The new firm operated under the name Goodman Segar Inc.
In 1947, the company became Goodman Segar Hogan Inc., when Hunter A. Hogan Jr. joined the firm. Segar handled the apartment and office leasing segments of the business. He was president of Goodman Segar Hogan and its affiliate corporations for 32 years. When he retired in 1973, Goodman Segar Hogan was the largest real estate brokerage in the state.
``He was very ethical and honest in his dealings, which impressed me,'' said Harvey Lindsay of Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate. Segar was highly regarded by friends and colleagues, with a reputation for being forthright, honest and direct. He was an avid hunter who particularly enjoyed hunting quail.
An active member of the community, he served on the board of Norfolk General Hospital, as first vice president of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce and as a trustee of Norfolk Academy for more than 30 years.
He is survived by his wife, Katharine; his children, Samuel Barron Segar Jr. of Norfolk, Edward Baird Segar of Memphis, Tenn., and Katharine Segar Lawless of Norfolk; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
KEYWORDS: OBITUARY DEATH