RELA founder, Gregory Spevok, killed in car crash.

Gregory Spevok, managing director of the Corporate and Real Estate Capital Markets Groups at LaSalle Bank and one of the founders of the Real Estate Lending Association (RELA) in Manhattan, died last week in a car accident. He was 46.

Remembered by friends and colleagues for his affable and genuine manner, Spevok excelled at building relationships--a skill that found him success in a business whose loan products have become more like commodities because of the increasingly prolific and competitive nature of the commercial real estate lending market.

During Spevok's tenure at LaSalle, he spearheaded the rise of the bank's Multifamily Finance Group into a top three provider of capital to the apartment and manufactured housing sectors.

In April 2005, he was promoted to also oversee the Corporate Capital Markets Group, which offered a broader scope of debt origination into areas other than real estate and also responsibility over the bank's Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Spevok charted his rise to prominence from the dark days of the real estate slump in the early 1990s.

Perhaps spurred by the difficulty in originating loans at a time when the industry was reeling from the Savings and Loan crisis and a nationwide economic recession, he envisioned and then organized RELA in 1992 through which real estate lenders could better network, exchange ideas, and educate themselves on emerging trends.

The association fostered a critical--and up until then, mostly absent--sense of community in the industry that helped many professionals weather the doldrums and emerge into the more bountiful times of the late 90s and boom period after 2000.

"I think RELA provided a lot more opportunities for commercial lenders," said Matthew Landau, a close friend of Spevok's who, like Spevok, served as a president of the association. "But that was the kind of guy that Greg was, doing things that would help other people. He was social and friendly and fun and incredibly knowledgeable but also approachable, he was a great person."

Spevok attended RELA's New Year networking celebration on January 11. A spokesman said, "He was so impressed with how our group has grown. He was really proud of us and of our continuing contribution, and we're sure he knew how very, very proud all of us were of him."

Prior to joining LaSalle, Spevok was the Director of Originations for Bear Stearns' CMBS unit in Manhattan. He relocated to Chicago when he moved to LaSalle. Spevok was killed driving to work on Sunday, January 29, 2006, when his Chevy Suburban collided with a stalled truck on Interstate Highway 90 in Chicago.

He leaves behind wife Elisabeth, children Katherine, Eleanor, and Phillip, and parents Stanley and Catherine.

A memorial service in Spevok's honor will be held on Tuesday, February 14, from 8 until 9 a.m., at Club 101,101 Park Avenue at 40th Street, in lieu of RELA's customary monthly breakfast meeting.

Those wishing to share their thoughts at the service are asked to contact RELA at 212-692-9379.