Longtime real estate executive Doug Crocker, who led one of late billionaire Sam Zell’s real estate investment trusts, was honored at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business commencement in Chicago.
During the ceremony this month, Crocker, a longtime champion of the school’s real estate program, received an honorary degree and was the keynote speaker.
Crocker’s real estate career included serving as vice chairman and CEO of Zell’s Equity Residential. Crocker and Zell took Equity Residential public in 1993, and the company grew into one of the nation’s largest apartment REITs. Crocker retired in 2003, and Zell died last year.
Crocker, 84, is a former university trustee who has donated significant time and financial support to the Catholic university with campuses in Chicago's Lincoln Park and Loop business district.
A 2005 donation by Crocker and his wife, Cynthia Crocker, endowed the directorship of DePaul’s Real Estate Center.
“Doug’s expertise has been vital to establishing the center as a leader in real estate education in the Midwest,” Reagan Pratt, who last year took over as the Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Director of the Real Estate Center, said in a statement.