Real estate lost a great leader and mentor this week. Len Caldeira, 71, lost his battle with cancer on Monday, Sept. 7.
Statistically, Len is known for completing transactions in 17 states for land sales involving some 6,000 acres, and assignments for companies including R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, Technicolor Inc., Crate & Barrel, Fujisawa USA Ltd., Ellison Robotics, D.A. Stuart Company and Rubbermaid, among others.
But to clients, peers, colleagues and legions of brokers who worked closely with Len, he was known for being a class act, a consummate professional and one of the good guys.
Most recently, Len was a managing director of JLL’s industrial services team and headed its land services group.
Len had been senior managing director and branch manager of Cushman & Wakefield’s Rosemont office since 1999. He joined Cushman & Wakefield after a 23-year career at LaSalle Partners (now JLL) where he founded LaSalle’s Chicago industrial brokerage team in 1992, then joined Staubach in July 2001, before it was acquired by JLL in July 2008.
Len served honorably in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and was a proud Veteran.
“Len was one of the great professionals in the Chicago Commercial Real Estate Industry,” Dan Ryan, JLL Central Region market director of JLL’s Central Region, shared. “Throughout his career, Len brought respect, humility and a great sense of humor to everything he did. He had an impact on many in our industry through his mentoring and leadership. He taught us so much and will be deeply missed.”
Professionally, Len was a member and past president of the Chicago Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP), an active member of the Association of Industrial Real Estate Brokers (AIRE), a member of the Ely Chapter of Lambda Alpha International, and a member and past president of the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) and had been one of its industrial members since 1991.
As a resident of the Village of Western Springs for 29 years before his move to the City of Chicago in 2003, Len served as a member of the Board of Trustees for four years. He also served on the Planning Commission for six years, four years as chairman, and started the Western Springs Tower Trot in 1977. He was named Western Springs’ Citizen of the Year in 1991.
Len is survived by his wife, Chantel, two adult sons, Len Jr., and Jason, daughter-in-law, Erin, and grandchildren, Emmit, and Julian.
Visitation will be Friday, Sept. 11, at Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 1025 W. 55th St. in Countryside, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. A memorial service and mass will be held at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, 1429 W. Wellington Ave. in Chicago, on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 11 a.m., with a celebration of Len’s life to follow.
