By Sarah Trefethen
Matthew Stacom, the broker who arranged the sale of the development site that would become the Sears Tower to Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 1962, died this weekend at the age of 95.
Stacom, a Long Island City-born son and grandson of housing builders, began working at Cushman & Wakefield in 1946 and stayed with the brokerage for 67 years, according to an announcement from the Young Men’s / Women’s Real Estate Association. Stacom was one of the 20 founding members of the YM/WREA and the third chairman of the organization.
Two of Stacom’s children, daughters Tara and Darcy, are prominent brokers in New York City. In an interview with Real Estate Weekly last year, Tara recalled that they grew up with a large poster of the Sears Tower, where their father also served as exclusive leasing and managing agent, hanging in their playroom.
Matthew Stacom won the Real Estate Board of New York’s Most Ingenious Deal of the Year Award on two occasions, in 1962 and 1963, and in 2013 the YM/WREA 2013 named him Senior Real Estate Man / Woman of the Year. He graduated from Lehigh University in 1941.
A Cushman & Wakefield spokesperson provided the following statement:
“Cushman & Wakefield is proud of Mr. Stacom’s contributions to the firm and to the real estate community. His leadership at the firm and the legacy he has passed on embodies Cushman & Wakefield’s core values of being ethical, working hard, putting the client first and maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit. The Stacom name has become synonymous with iconic real estate and we know his legacy will continue through the great work of his family.”
