February 28, 2020 2:25 pm Remembering A Real Estate Legend
Written by – Remy Cook
As a young boy growing up in Greenwich I often heard the name David Ogilvy. He was a friend of my grandparents from the New York advertising world (Layng & Jean Martine), who later founded Martine & Company, an ad agency that catered to real estate brokers.
Much later when I began working in real estate myself, I had the pleasure of meeting David at one of his luxurious broker open houses in Old Greenwich. I remember second-guessing my decision to go, because I really didn’t have any clients in the 12 million dollar range, and by the time I pulled in, the open house had just ended. Nonetheless I went in and found David sitting there, wearing a beautiful suit. I never felt more underdressed in my life. The funny thing was, I had thought I looked pretty good in my khakis, dress shirt & vest.
I introduced myself and said how much my grandparents had liked him. David gave me a complete tour of this magnificent house. I must have been there for over 20 minutes with just him. It was incredibly nice of David to be so friendly and generous with his time. He was incredibly successful with an impeccable reputation, and I was an agent who had only just begun in the industry. It was such a treat to meet him.
I was very saddened to hear of his death earlier this month. I wish I could have gotten to know him better.
The head of my group at Douglas Elliman, Beverley Toepke, worked with David for 11 years. She told me that David was a total gentlemen and had made real estate respectable.