Bowen “Buzz” McCoy believed that leadership in real estate requires more than financial acumen. Over a career that spanned Wall Street, academia, philanthropy, and decades of service to the Urban Land Institute, he consistently reminded the industry that capital markets function best when anchored by integrity.
McCoy, a pioneering investment banker and widely respected real estate counselor, died on January 25, 2026, at age 88.
People—whether a young analyst, a seasoned executive, or a student in one of McCoy’s ethics classes—who encountered him often came away with the same impression: Here was someone who expected excellence, modeled humility, and treated others with extraordinary respect. He was rigorous without being rigid, principled without being preachy, and quietly confident when markets were anything but.
Kenneth T. Rosen, managing director at Andersen, recalled McCoy as a steady presence during defining moments in the industry’s history. “Buzz was the quintessential emcee,” Rosen said. “He was brilliant, extremely articulate, a consummate gentleman, and a prince of our industry.”
Elevating the Practice of Real Estate Finance
McCoy’s professional life paralleled the institutionalization of real estate as an asset class.
After earning his undergraduate degree in economics from Stanford University in 1958 and serving in the U.S. Army’s Intelligence Branch in Korea, he received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1962 and then joined Morgan Stanley that same year.
At a time when real estate finance was still developing into a sophisticated discipline, McCoy helped shape its modern form. He became a partner and managing director in 1970 at Morgan Stanley, and later served as its president and chairman. For 13 years, he directed the firm’s real estate finance activities, and he also led its West Coast operations from Los Angeles.
McCoy guided clients and colleagues through multiple economic cycles, helping to bring analytical rigor and strategic clarity to increasingly complex transactions. Yet technical sophistication was only part of his legacy.
Lynn Thurber, chairman of the board of JLL Income Property Trust and a past ULI global chair, emphasized that McCoy’s deeper impact lay in the culture he fostered. “Buzz, as head of Morgan Stanley’s real estate division in the 1970s and 1980s, was well known in the commercial real estate industry for bringing a sophisticated level of financial analysis to large complex real estate transactions,” Thurber said. “More significant than that, in my mind, were Buzz’s high ethical standards and his commitment to J.P. Morgan, Jr.’s famous ‘a first-class business in a first-class way’ for the culture of every organization Buzz led.”
For people who worked with him, Thurber added, the standard was unmistakable. “For those of us who had the privilege of working for Buzz, we quickly recognized that we never wanted to fall short of Buzz’s expectation of excellence and integrity in everything we did.”
A Forum Built on Trust
One of McCoy’s most enduring contributions to ULI and the industry was the creation of the ULI/McCoy Symposium on Real Estate Finance. Born out of conversations in the early 1990s, during a period of severe financial stress, the symposium was designed as a private, invitation-only gathering where leaders in capital markets could speak candidly. It operated under strict confidentiality principles to encourage open exchange rather than public positioning.
McCoy understood that markets depend not only on liquidity but also on trust. He believed that when leaders could share concerns openly, without attribution or competitive theater, the industry as a whole would make better decisions.
For more than three decades, the symposium became a quiet but influential touchstone. Through expansions, contractions, credit freezes, and rate spikes, it served as a forum where long-term relationships strengthened and difficult questions were addressed honestly.
Rosen, a frequent keynote speaker, credited McCoy’s stewardship for the symposium’s longevity. “He endowed the McCoy symposium at ULI, and I was privileged to be the keynote speaker at the event over a dozen times,” Rosen said. “He will be greatly missed.”
The Parable That Shaped Generations
If the symposium reflected McCoy’s impact on capital markets, his essay “The Parable of the Sadhu” reflected his influence on leadership itself.
Published in the Harvard Business Review in 1983, the essay emerged from a months-long trek McCoy undertook in the Himalayas. It described an ethical dilemma faced by a group of climbers who encountered a dying holy man. The experience forced McCoy to confront hard questions about personal responsibility, group dynamics, and moral accountability.
The article became one of the most widely reprinted essays in Harvard Business Review’s history and earned its Ethics Prize. For decades, “The Parable of the Sadhu” has been required reading in business schools around the world.
Thurber noted how central the parable became to McCoy’s leadership. “His focus on ethics in business was epitomized in his writing and teaching the ethical dilemma of ‘The Parable of the Sadhu’,” she said. “If you worked for Buzz, you knew this tale.”
McCoy expanded on these themes in his books, The Dynamics of Real Estate Capital Markets: A Practitioner’s Perspective and Living Into Leadership: A Journey in Ethics, as well as in dozens of articles. Again and again, he returned to a central question: How can one pursue an ambitious business career while remaining an integrated, grounded human being?
Mentor, Teacher, and Civic Leader
After retiring from Morgan Stanley in 1990, McCoy founded Buzz McCoy Associates and entered what many describe as an even more influential phase of his life. He taught business ethics at Stanford Graduate School of Business as Executive-in-Residence and lectured at UCLA Anderson, the University of Southern California’s graduate real estate program, and the Pacific School of Religion.
His family endowed the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford University, as well as academic positions in business ethics at Stanford and Harvard. He believed that ethics should not be peripheral to leadership education; it should sit at its core.
His service extended well beyond academia. He was a ULI Life Trustee, past president of the ULI Foundation, and past president of the Counselors of Real Estate. He played leadership roles at Stanford, including serving as president of the Stanford Alumni Association, and he received the university’s Gold Spike Award for exceptional volunteer service. He was inducted into the Stanford Real Estate Hall of Fame in 2013.
McCoy also chaired the Hollywood Bowl and led a major renovation of its facilities, served in multiple leadership roles with the American Red Cross, and was named Humanitarian of the Year by its Los Angeles Chapter in 2019. A lifelong jazz enthusiast, he and his wife Barbara endowed the McCoy Chair in Jazz Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music and hosted concerts that blended storytelling and performance.
Doug Abbey, past chair of the ULI Foundation and chairman emeritus of Swift Real Estate Partners, captured the personal qualities many recall most vividly. “Buzz was a gentleman from another era: tall, soft-spoken, and kind,” Abbey said. “He always took an interest in young ULI members. While he could have taught real estate at Stanford, he chose to teach ethics. He was devoted to his family and was a true inspiration. We all will miss his radiant presence.”
His influence on ULI and the broader industry was both structural and deeply personal. “Buzz’s leadership and generosity strengthened ULI in profound and lasting ways,” said ULI executive vice president Mary Beth Corrigan. “He brought unmatched insight, unwavering ethics, and a deep belief in the importance of responsible land use. Through the ULI/McCoy Symposium and his decades of service, he elevated conversations that shaped our industry. We are deeply grateful for his wisdom, his integrity, and his lasting impact on ULI, our members, and the communities we serve.”
A Life Lived in Balance
Away from boardrooms and classrooms, McCoy found renewal outdoors. He and Barbara hosted annual wildflower hikes at their ranch in Topanga, California, in the Santa Monica Mountains, bringing together friends, family, and colleagues in a setting that reflected his belief in reflection and balance.
He is survived by his wife Barbara, his children, stepdaughters, grandchildren, and an extended professional family that spans decades of ULI members and industry leaders.
