The co-founder and senior advisor of Broadstone Real Estate, and a man with more than 50 years in the finance and investment world, has passed away at the age of 81.

US-based Broadstone Real Estate yesterday announced that its co-founder and senior advisor Norman Leenhouts, known to colleagues and friends as “Norm”, has died at the age of 81. He passed away peacefully in his home with family by his side on January 7. He had a 50-year career in commercial and residential real estate.

“My father will best be remembered by his entrepreneurial spirit, humble generosity, kind heart, and brilliant mind. It was an honor and remarkable experience for me to be able to work with him for over three decades,” his daughter, Amy Tait, chairman and CEO of the business, said in a tribute yesterday. “His legacy will live on with the many, many people that he has mentored and influenced in his lifetime,” she said.

Mr Leenhouts grew up with twin brother Nelson on the family farm in Ontario, New York. In 1967, the brothers founded Home Leasing Corporation and went on to form and co-lead Home Properties as a public company in 1994, operating as co-CEOs until 2003.

In 2006, along with his daughter, Amy, and her husband, Bob Tait, he co-founded Broadstone, where he served as chief investment officer and as an officer and director of the firm’s two private real estate investment trusts, Broadstone Net Lease and Broadtree Homes (currently Broadtree Residential) from their inception until June, 2015.