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By Heather McGowan, NAR’s manager of archives and records
Clark E. Wallace was “one of the finer representations” of what it means to be a member of the National Association of REALTORS®, says Harley Snyder, an Indiana real estate broker who preceded Wallace as NAR president by three years. “He was somebody who was easy to know, easy to like, and easy to respect because he carried himself in that manner.”
Wallace, who served as the association’s president in 1986, passed away in February at the age of 91. A native of the Bay Area, he was born in Piedmont, Calif., and for 70 years lived with his wife Gerry in Orinda, northwest of Oakland.
Wallace was a third-generation REALTOR®. Before entering the industry, he earned a business degree with a specialization in real estate from the University of California at Berkeley; then he spent three years in the Navy, which took him to Rhode Island; Athens, Ga.; and the Marshall Islands.
In 1958, he joined his family brokerage—Wallace, Anderson, Underwood & Scofield in Maranga, Calif.—and began selling primarily residential properties. But after his father sold a 7,000-acre ranch in Maranga, Wallace became interested in real estate development. He worked with the buyer of the land to develop the towns of Maranga and Orinda, and in 1967, he formed a real estate development company, Wallace-Olsen Associates Inc. Orinda and several of the smaller towns in Contra Costa County were unincorporated, and Wallace saw great opportunity for development and growth. He was the developer on numerous residential and commercial projects throughout the county, including the Pine Grove Development, Preston Ranch, and the Maranga Country Club.
Fighting the Good Fight on Tax Reform
Shortly after joining the family brokerage, Wallace became involved in the REALTOR® organization. In 1964, at age 29, he served as the youngest president of the Contra Costa Association of REALTORS®. He was named REALTOR® of the Year for the Contra Costa association in 1972. He served as president of the California Association of REALTORS® in the second half of 1978 and all of 1979. For his outstanding service, he was named 1979 REALTOR® of the Year in California. In 1982, he served as regional vice president for NAR Region 13 (California, Hawaii and Guam).
At 53, Wallace became one of the youngest NAR presidents ever. The national deficit, high interest rates and tax reform were high on the list of members’ concerns. Interest rates hovered above 10%, down from a high of 18% in 1982, and Wallace chose to channel his energy toward tax reform.
The 1986 Tax Reform Act was poised to be detrimental to real estate investing and to raise tax rates for Americans, making Americans more cautious to buy and sell homes. Wallace encouraged NAR members to speak up and engage in a Call for Action, “to write their U.S. Senators and alert them to the blatant inequities in the Senate Finance Committee’s tax overhaul plan.” Ultimately, some elements of the new law disrupted investment transactions and rankled commercial members. But under Wallace’s leadership, NAR was successful in reducing individual and corporate tax rates, retaining tax incentives for commercial and residential real estate, preserving the mortgage-interest and property-tax deductions, and introducing the Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC) to issue multiple class real estate mortgage-backed securities for investment properties.
In addition to tax reform, Wallace was able to work with HUD to establish guidelines for federally financed housing discrimination testing under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) to protect REALTORS® from indiscriminate fair housing testing.
Wallace’s presidency marked a banner year for REALTORS® Political Action Committee fundraising with $2.7 million invested, NAR’s highest total at the time.
Emphasis on Professionalism in Real Estate
The other central focus for Wallace’s presidency was professionalism.
“Clark was instrumental in a lot of the changes within the association in the mid-to late ’80s and early ’90s,” Snyder says. “He was right in the middle of it. He was very interested in professionalization and wanted it to be carried on through association.”
In his time on NAR’s Strategic Planning Committee, Wallace and the committee had identified professionalism as the number one concern for members. During his presidency, executive outreach increased, local and state associations were educated on Code of Ethics enforcement, leadership was more accessible to members, and NAR rolled out a training program for new salespeople, REALTORS® In-House Training and Education (RITE).
Both before and after his presidency, Wallace was highly involved in the REALTOR® organization, serving on the Legislative Committee, International Policy/International Relations Committee, Equal Opportunity Committee, and Real Estate Appraisal Committee, among others. He also served on a handful of task forces and presidential advisory groups. From 2001 to 2003, Wallace served as chairman of the board of the California Housing Finance Agency.
Wallace was also actively involved in his community, serving as president of the Orinda Community Association in 1968, president of the Orinda Chamber of Commerce from 1966 to 1968, and Orinda School Board trustee from 1969 to 1977. In 1969, Wallace was named Orinda “Citizen of the Year.”
In his down time, Wallace enjoyed fly fishing and was an avid tennis player who was ranked for many years in California. He is survived by his wife Gerry; three children, Marshall, Tia, and Wendy Lee; 7 grandchildren; and two great-granddaughters.