Cambridge Realty Capital Founder and CEO Jeffrey Davis died unexpectedly on April 18, according to the company.
“Jeff was a visionary and trailblazer in the senior housing and healthcare finance sector and saw its immense potential and growth long before others deemed it as a class outside of commercial real estate,” said Cambridge Realty President Andrew Erkes. “Cambridge mourns this tragic loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with Jeff’s wife, Karen, his daughter, Taylor, and his extended family.”
Davis founded Cambridge Realty Capital in 1983, seven years after earning a graduate degree in real estate investment analysis and appraisal from the University of Wisconsin. He also previously worked at Chicago-based real estate firm Baird & Warner Inc., where he was the company’s youngest senior vice president in its history, according to Cambridge.
Under Davis, Cambridge’s specialty became senior housing and healthcare lending. Erkes joined just a few years after the company’s founding.
Over three decades, they grew Cambridge to about a dozen employees and $6.5 billion dollars in closed senior housing transactions. Today, the company has has three main service areas: FHA-insured HUD loans, conventional financing, and investments and acquisitions.
“When I had my first hire of a loan officer and HUD specialist, [Andy Erkes], I remembered sharing with him that his future would be in the health care world, not commercial real estate,” Davis told Senior Housing News in 2021. “Little did I know, it would shortly be our primary work activity.”
Erkes said that Davis’ legacy at the company will be felt in “the talent and commitment of the senior management team he assembled.”
“We can never replace Jeff’s brilliance or leadership, and we will honor him by continuing his passion for Cambridge and the senior housing and healthcare sector he so loved,” he said.
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