David M. Gillece, a former Baltimore development director who became president of real estate firm Colliers Pinkard, died of Parkinson’s disease Aug. 17 at the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton. The former Locust Point resident was 74.
“David was a civic leader who got the job done and he didn’t need any acclaim,” said Wally D. Pinkard Jr., former CEO of Colliers Pinkard. “He did great work and he did it with real class.”
He added: “He looked at problems, simplified them, and could see the needs of others. He was the definition of integrity.”
David Michael Gillece, son of James Patrick Gillece, a state government worker, and Erna Barling Gillece, a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Linthicum.
A 1967 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree from LaSalle University in Philadelphia, and a master’s degree in the same discipline from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana.
After leaving Notre Dame, he began his career in 1973 as a staff member at the Citizens Planning and Housing Association where he “led a groundbreaking study on redlining, exposing racial discrimination in lending policies by major financial institutions,” according to a biographical profile.
He was president of the City Fair and deputy director of the Citizens’ Planning and Greater Baltimore Committee from 1976 to 1988, when he was named president of the Baltimore Economic Development Corp.
From 1990 and most of 1991, he was president of Center City-Inner Harbor Development Corp.
After Mr. Gillece oversaw at Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke’s request the 1991 merger of BEDCO and CCIH which emerged as the Baltimore City Development Corp., he resigned to pursue private sector opportunities.
Mr. Gillece then joined what was then W.C. Pinkard, a Baltimore family-owned real estate firm as executive vice president, and in 2003 was appointed president of what became Colliers Pinkard.
Following mergers with several other commercial real estate firms, the company became Cushman & Wakefield, where Mr. Gillece was a managing director until his retirement several years ago.
“It was a fine career,” said M. Jay Brodie, former city housing commissioner who served as BDC president for 16 years before retiring.
“To use a phrase that I’m fond of, David was a first-rate professional who knew many things, did his research, and knew what he was doing. He was just excellent and was always a pleasure to deal with.”
“He was an efficient and firm mentor to young people and they flocked to his office,” Mr. Pinkard said. “He led by example and with humility and he had a great sense of humor and patience.”
Mr. Gillece sat on innumerable boards including the Greater Baltimore Committee, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore and St. Frances Academy.
“He left his mark on Baltimore,” said his wife of 41 years, Nancy Roberts, a lawyer.
“Baltimore was his hobby.”
The former Roland Park and Silo Point resident was an avid fan of the Orioles and Ravens.
A funeral Mass was offered Thursday at the Holy Cross Catholic Community of South Baltimore.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Patrick R. Gillece, of Bethesda; a daughter, Casey Gordon, of Winnetka, Illinois; two sisters, Joan Gillece, of Annapolis, and Nancy Gillece, of Frederick; and five grandchildren.
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