In the past 12 months, the Dallas Fort-Worth real estate community has experienced the pang of loss as legends in the industry have passed on.
This year, the sting is still fresh as many are still mourning the loss of the beloved Pierce Allman, co-founder of Allie Beth Allman and Associates and local historian, as well as longtime Ebby Halliday executive Mary Frances Burleson. Titans of the North Texas real estate industry, their reach was incredible and their impact wide reaching.
Chris Bright
We also lost the legendary Chris Bright of Bright Realty in August at the age of 70.
Bright oversaw Bright Realty, as well as its parent company, Bright Industries, as CEO. He led the daily activities of Bright Industries, which was founded in the 1950s by his father, the late former Dallas Cowboys owner H.R. “Bum” Bright.
Bright graduated from Highland Park High School in 1971 and later the University of Dallas in 1978. He began his career with STM Mortgage Company, where he supervised STM’s real estate construction lending operations, and commercial loan placement and underwriting.
He was active in several Dallas charitable and civic organizations, including A Weekend to Wipe Out Cancer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas, and the McKinney Avenue Trolley Association. He was formerly on the Board of Directors for The University of Dallas.
While Bright’s accomplishments span decades, he was instrumental in the creation of the Castle Hills community. The land for the development was first purchased by H.R. “Bum” Bright in 1952 as a family farm.
Mary Frances Burleson
The loss of Mary Frances Burleson, Ebby Halliday’s right hand, had the North Texas real estate community reeling. The Ebby Halliday Companies announced that Burleson, 87, died of natural causes.
Burleson famously began as the secretary of Mrs. Ebby Halliday, the company’s namesake founder, and rose to become the company’s president and CEO. She led the company through tremendous growth, leading in times of joy and sorrow, including the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, and the passing of the founder and her mentor, Ebby Halliday Acers, at the age of 104 in 2015.
There are few people in Dallas real estate who did not know Mary Frances Burleson. Every year, on their birthday without fail, Burleson would call each and every Ebby agent, sing “Happy Birthday,” and tell them how very appreciated they were.
Burleson was, like her mentor, one of the hardest-working women you could ever meet. But she also had a heart of absolute gold, a no-nonsense approach to life, the kind of stubbornness that made you chuckle (and give her the last word!), and was so proud of the company she and Ebby built.
Burleson played a pivotal role in the acquisition of the Ebby Halliday Companies by HomeServices of America in 2018. She was fiercely loyal and protective of the company where she worked for almost 60 years.
Pierce Allman
The loss of Pierce Allman, co-owner of Allie Beth Allman & Associates, was monumental. He was a Dallas-based journalist, public relations executive, community leader, philanthropist, civic enthusiast, long-time resident of Highland Park, and SMU alumnus.
Allman died Friday, November 25, the day after Thanksgiving. He had been on hospice care for several months.
Allman was the co-founder, along with his wife Allie Beth, of Allie Beth Allman & Associates. The firm’s roughly 360 agents focus on Park Cities, Preston Hollow, North and East Dallas, and Southlake luxury real estate. The firm was acquired in 2015 for an undisclosed sum by Warren Buffett’s HomeServices of America Inc. Allie Beth Allman has done $3.2 billion in sales for the year.
“Pierce Allman was very much the strength and backbone of this company,” said Keith Conlon, president of Allie Beth Allman & Associates. “The name on the sign is Allie Beth, but it truly was Allie Beth and Pierce Allman. He was a marketing genius and managed the business side so Allie Beth could sell. Yet he was content — happy even — to let Allie Beth have the limelight. A brilliant, humble man who never ceased to amaze us with his depth of knowledge on just about everything, and his dapper dress, Pierce Allman will be sorely missed at this company. We appreciated him to the core.”
