Albert Gaskin came up from the South and washed dishes at an Evanston restaurant before finding his niche in real estate, a business with a history of being unfair to the African-American community.
One of the first black members of the North Shore Board of Realtors, Mr. Gaskin focused on selling homes to African-Americans in black sections of Evanston when he started. But, over time, he handled transactions throughout the North Shore for a broad-based clientele.
Mr. Gaskin, 76, died of complications from prostate cancer on Thursday, July 1, at Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter in Skokie, said his partner of 41 years, Robert Bachand.
Born in a primitive wooden shack and raised in tiny Abbeville, S.C., he came to Evanston after high school on the advice of friend from Abbeville who had moved there and touted it as a place with jobs and places to live for blacks.
He washed pots and pans at the old Fanny’s restaurant and put in two years with the U.S. Army, which stationed him in Germany.
When Mr. Gaskin returned to Evanston, a friend mentioned to him that the black community needed an honest real estate broker. Taking that as his cue, he signed up for classes through the North Shore Board of Realtors and opened his business in early 1961. He became a member of the North Shore Board of Realtors (now the North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors) shortly afterward.
Early in his career, Mr. Gaskin felt compelled to be guarded about being gay. But, as times changed, he gained acceptance and, in the early 1980s, he served on the board of directors of the North Shore real estate association.
And, in September 2009, Mr. Gaskin was recognized by the group for his long service with the title “Realtor Emeritus,” said Terry Penza, chief executive officer of the association.
Albert Gaskin & Co., for some 40 years located at 817 Main St. in Evanston, employed about 13 sales associates at its peak.
“His business became very much across the board,” said Marilyn Glazer, a veteran real estate broker on the North Shore who often saw Mr. Gaskin at industry conventions and educational seminars.
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“He felt keeping up (with the industry’s latest developments) was important,” said Glazer, who also recalled Mr. Gaskin’s impeccable dressing habits. “He was well-respected.”
Mr. Gaskin became one of the first tenants of the Marina City towers apartment complex in Chicago. During the 1970s, he smartly picked up on an imminent neighborhood turnaround in Lincoln Park and bought a building there with Bachand.
After running into some owners who didn’t want to sell to blacks, Bachand, who is white, worked up front as the buyer while Mr. Gaskin posed as his real estate agent, Bachand said.
Later, the pair moved to Edgewater, continuing to “entertain constantly” while Mr. Gaskin also pursued interests in travel and photography, Bachand said.
Mr. Gaskin served on an advisory board of the Illinois Department of Corrections juvenile division in the early 1970s and also was a member of the Chicago Area Project, which works with young people.
Mr. Gaskin is also survived by two brothers, Robert Gaskin and Edward Davis Jr.; and three sisters, Maggie R. Maddox, Mae Whitley and Henrietta Whiteman.
A memorial service will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, July 17, at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St.