Stephen Charles Weiss, a highly-respected commercial real estate brokerage professional who worked in the greater Maryland region for more than 40 years, passed away on May 15 following a brief fight with advanced kidney disease at age 67. For the past ten years, he served as Senior Vice President for Lee & Associates | Maryland.
Weiss is remembered by colleagues as a true professional with high integrity that worked tirelessly and relentlessly on behalf of his clients. He was known as an extremely friendly and outgoing gentleman with a friendly smile, quick wit, and the penchant to “do anything for anybody.” According to Allan Riorda, who along with Tom Whelan, recruited Weiss to join the fledging Lee & Associates office, “all you need to know about Steve is that he lovingly adopted, sight unseen, a three-legged dog from Russia and named him Roy.” He was especially known for his patience and help mentoring younger commercial real estate agents that joined the organization.
According to Whelan, when they started recruiting people to join them at Lee & Associates, a high priority was attracting people that “were passionate about real estate, their families and their hobbies and interests. In addition, they wanted people that were professional, courteous, willing to mentor and fun to interact with.
“Steve checked every box as well as some additional ones,” Whelan said. “His work in capital markets required passion and perseverance. If you ever saw Steve’s fishing box attached to the roof of his SUV, you would understand his love of the sport and he was quick to recall stories about his many water excursions.”
Steve gravitated towards working with small building and land owners, as well investors with a focus on investment sales, and the placement of equity and debt to complete commercial real estate transactions. This enabled him to work with a wide variety of people and personalities and gave him the opportunity to leverage his strong people skills.
“I can honestly say that I never saw Steve angry or upset and he always had a great attitude,” Riorda added. “This positivity and energy spread throughout our office and is a hallmark of our office culture to this day.”
Weiss earned a degree in Business/Hotel resort tourism from Southern New Hampshire University. He is survived by his two daughters, Alexandra, and Hannah, whom he raised with his former spouse Lydia Nash Weiss, siblings Bob and Jack Weiss, and Nancy Skyrm, many nieces, and nephews, as well as his partner Melanie Brent. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Chesapeake Bay Foundation in his honor.
