Industry Icon John Pierce Passes Away

NEWPORT BEACH, CA-Orange County commercial real estate icon John D. Pierce, who was promoted to president of locally based Voit Real Estate Services’ commercial brokerage division in July of 2009, passed away on Monday following a heroic seven-year fight with liver cancer. As GlobeSt.com previously reported, in Pierce’s new role as president of the brokerage division, he was responsible for promoting Voit’s company image, building relationships within the industry and generating new business opportunities. He also was in charge of executing internal company initiatives and recruiting new brokerage professionals to the firm.  

Before joining Voit Real Estate Services 13 years ago, Pierce was vice president of marketing at the Koll Co., where he established the Koll Marketing Group to exclusively market the 100-acre master planned mixed use Koll Center Irvine project comprised of 3 million square feet of high-rise office. The Koll Marketing Group was also responsible for marketing the 1.3-million-square-foot mixed-use Koll Center Newport.  His major transactions included the leases for Taco Bell and Sports Club/Irvine.

In addition, Pierce’s extensive real estate career included serving as president of the MacArthur Group, a boutique commercial real estate services firm, and as president and COO at Brinderson Development Corp. Previously, he was a senior sales consultant with Coldwell Banker & Co., where he closed more than 225 individual transactions per year in each of his final three years with the firm.

Pierce was a graduate of Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. He has also earned a degree in Real Estate from Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana and served as a captain in the US Marine Corps.