Julien Studley, 88; Tenant-Rep Pioneer

NEW YORK CITY—Funeral services for Julien Studley have been scheduled for Friday at Riverside Memorial Chapel on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The tenant-representation pioneer, who launched the brokerage firm bearing his name more than 60 years ago, died Monday at his home, age 88.

Born Julius Stuckgold in Belgium in 1927, Studley and his family escaped the country when the Nazis invaded in 1940, and finally arrived in the US four years later. He found work as a diamond cutter in New York City after serving two years in the US Army's Psychological Warfare unit in Europe. In 1954, Studley established a commercial real estate firm to serve tenants and only tenants. It was a novel idea at the time and, at first, a tough sell to owners who resisted the idea of paying the tenant representative's fees.

Studley's pioneering firm, Julien J. Studley Inc., paved the way for tenant rep firms that followed while also helping to raise space users' level of sophistication about their requirements. Arguably the firm's biggest success came not in the form of a lease negotiation but in painstakingly assembling the Midtown Manhattan parcel upon which Citibank built its iconic headquarters, Citigroup Center, in the late 1960s.

Studley sold his company to 45 of the firm's managers and brokers in 2002. Under CEO Mitchell Steir, the firm, now known simply as Studley, expanded both its global reach and the scope of its practice. In 2014, the company was sold to Savills plc and now operates as Savills Studley in the US. Two years after selling Julien J. Studley Inc., Studley formed Studley New Vista Associates, a real estate investment and consulting firm.

A Wall Street Journal article reporting the sale of Julien J. Studley Inc. called its founder “the granddaddy of tenant reps.” Although Woody Heller, an executive manager director at Savills Studley who joined the firm in '02, told The Real Deal that his low-key former boss “would be the last person I would have thought put the company together that he built,” he praised Studley as “an enterprise builder.”

In a statement, Steir and Savills Studley president Michael Colacino recal that "as a broker, Julien advocated tenaciously for his clients—a trait that remains in the DNA of our firm's culture today.  As a leader, he supported creativity, collaboration and, yes, a little healthy competition, inspiring people from all walks of life to be the best they could be.  Those of us who were brought into the business by Julien are personally grateful to him for his encouragement and support.  We, and indeed the entire industry, would not be where we are today if it were not for him.”

In 2004, when a biography of Studley was published, Tishman Speyer's then-president and CEO, Jerry Speyer, called him “one of the great leaders in the real estate industry. He built a thriving business based upon hard work, creativity, integrity, and skill.”

In common with other real estate legends, Studley was also known for his leadership in the philanthropic community. He served as chairman of the New School for Social Research, from which he received the Distinguished Service Award in 1997, and was also chairman of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and served on the boards of Lincoln Center and the Graduate School of CUNY.

Studley is survived by his wife Jane; his son Jacob; his sister-in-law Helen Studley; his stepson Ni jun and Ni jun's wife LuLu; and two step-grandchildren, Adam and Benjamin. Donations in Studley's memory may be made to the New School or to the charity of one's choice.