The Chicago real estate industry lost one of its longtime leaders late last year when Douglas Kramer, chairman of the board of Chicago real estate firm Draper and Kramer, passed away.
Kramer was 74 when he died Dec. 28 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago from complications associated with the cancer that he had battled for decades.
As an obituary in the Chicago Tribune stated, Kramer was well known for his ability to both make friends and close deals. According to the obituary, much of this deal-making, and friend-making, took place with breakfast meetings at famed diner Lou Mitchell’s on Chicago’s Near West Side.
Kramer is survived by Mary Lynn Kramer, his wife of more than three decades, and four children. He is also survived by a sister, brother and five grandchildren.
Draper and Kramer began in 1893 as a venture between Arthur Draper and Adolph Kramer. The two men formed a partnership to provide commercial mortgage banking services and residential management to Chicago.
After more than a century of change, Draper and Kramer has become one of the nation’s most successful private full-service real estate and financial firms. Today, Draper and Kramer remains a family owned company. Though it is headquartered in Chicago, the company works with clients and partners on a national basis.
