Eugene Landy ’58 Receives Simeon Baldwin Award

Yale Law School’s Center for the Study of Corporate Law has awarded its 2014 Simeon E. Balwin Award to Eugene W. Landy ’58, a founder of the real estate investment trust industry.

The Award was established in 2007 and is presented by the Center to a Yale Law School graduate in recognition of distinguished achievement in law and business. Simeon Baldwin, both a student and faculty member of the Law School, was the leading railroad lawyer of his day and was responsible for putting in place the Law School's interdisciplinary tradition. He was also governor and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and a founder and president of an astounding number of professional associations.

Landy is the Founder and Chairman of Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation and Founder and Chairman of UMH Properties, Inc. As Center Director Roberta Romano ’80 remarked at the award presentation, “Gene Landy is one of the pioneers and founders of the real estate investment trust (REIT) industry, which has played a critical role in reducing the cost of residential and commercial real estate by providing investors with a practical means of diversifying their investment portfolios into real estate. Gene early on recognized how the REIT creates value by turning illiquid assets into liquid ones, facilitating homeowners’ and entrepreneurs’ property acquisitions.”

Judge Guido Calabresi ’58, former YLS Dean and Sterling Professor Emeritus, in remarks honoring his law school classmate on the occasion, further noted Landy’s remarkable life story. Landy graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy before enrolling in the Law School and financed his education by working at sea. This singular background provides an insight into the remarkable career that was to come, as Landy did not choose a conventional career path, but was willing to take entrepreneurial risk in uncharted waters. Landy’s involvement in the REIT industry dates back almost to the industry’s beginning, and spans both the day-to-day operations of two real estate investment trust companies and leadership positions in important professional organizations, such as the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts and the Northeast Regional Association of Small Business Investment Companies.