Real estate company founder Allen Tate dies

H. Allen Tate Jr., a leading voice in Charlotte real estate and economic development for more than 60 years, but whose impact was felt in Greenville and the Upstate, has died. He was 84.

Tate, who died Monday at his home, was chairman and CEO of Allen Tate Companies. He founded the firm in Charlotte in 1957.

In 2008, his company, with more than $6 billion in annual sales volume, bought into the Upstate and promised an aggressive push for market share.

That didn't go unnoticed by local real estate professionals, including the late C. Dan Joyner, who was owner and president of Prudential C. Dan Joyner Co. of Greenville, the Upstate's No. 1 residential brokerage at the time.

Joyner had known Tate for years, having worked with him on the board of National Commerce Financial Corp., a Memphis bank.

"He's a gentleman, and we welcome him here," Joyner said. "Competition, I think, is good for everybody. It makes you work a little bit harder and a little bit smarter."

In the Upstate, Allen Tate Companies has five offices - Greenville Midtown, Easley/Powdersville, Greer, Greenville-Woodruff Road and Simpsonville with about 140 total agents.

The company has 1,400 agents in 40 offices across its footprint.

"You never, never, never went to him with a problem," Pat Riley, president and chief operating officer of Allen Tate Companies, said of Tate. "If it was a problem, you did not couch it as a problem because he didn't want to hear it. There was just no time for problems. You'd come in with a solution."

Tate had been in failing health for a number of years, but continued to work at his Southpark-headquartered real estate firm, company officials said.

He was born on April 23, 1931, raised in Gaffney and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Shortly after in 1957, he took the advice of his father, a grocer, moved to Charlotte and opened a one-man, one-location real estate and insurance office.

Tate believed civic involvement was critical to business success, and during his career he worked on various boards and organizations. In March, he was honored for his transportation work when the final section of Interstate 485 was named the H. Allen Tate Jr. Highway.