Richard Mark Alter, president and CEO of Manekin, a real estate investment, management and operating company, who was a standout lacrosse player, died of cardio-renal failure July 17 at Gilchrist Care Towson. The Harbor East resident was 81.
Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Irving Alter, an attorney who owned the Whitelock Realty Co., and his wife, Lucille. He was a 1962 Baltimore City College graduate and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Brown University, where he excelled as a lacrosse goalie.
Mr. Alter served in the Air Force as a medic and assisted in delivering babies at Andrews Air Force Base. He was a 1970 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law.
He joined the Manekin firm in 1971 and oversaw corporate operations, including the development of more than 20 million square feet of industrial property in Hampton, Virginia, Annapolis and Howard and Frederick counties.
“My father worked until the day he died,” said his son, Zach Alter. “He had his own style. He was kind and cool. He always said that people never worked for him. They worked with him.”
Thomas Bozzuto, a fellow developer and close friend, said: “He always brought a new idea, a thought you hadn’t considered. He brought it with a twinkle in his eye. Yet a twinkle that you knew could be trusted. Richard was a first-class real estate developer. But far more than that, he was a good and iconic man.”
Donald Manekin, a former Manekin Corp. partner, said Mr. Alter shared a vision with James Rouse about Columbia’s commercial real estate potential.
Mr. Manekin also said, “Richard also brought a 21st century understanding for financing by creating relations with institutions like Copley Real Estate Advisors in Boston and Mercantile in Baltimore to our firm.”
Mr. Alter worked extensively in Columbia along Gateway Drive and in Upper Marlboro in Prince George’s County at the National Capital Business Park.
He served on the boards of the Johns Hopkins Heart Institute Initiative Advisory Council, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Camp Shoresh, Beth Tfiloh Congregation, the Baltimore City Housing Partnership, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, the Maryland Heart Association and the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel.
Mr. Alter was a member of Beth Tfiloh Congregation and a past president of the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School.
A statement on the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame says Mr. Alter “is considered the premier goalie in Brown lacrosse history.” He was named All-American, All-Ivy and All-New England. He was also named the outstanding lacrosse player of the year in 1966 by the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association.
Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Rosalie Kershman Alter, a Beth Tfiloh Congregation volunteer; a son, J. Zachariah Alter, of Baltimore; two daughters, Jamie Deutsch, of New Rochelle, New York, and Kelly Alter, of Vail, Colorado; two sisters, Mary Malinow, of Pikesville and Kathy Gottschalk, of Atlanta; and eight grandchildren.
Services were Friday at Sol Levinson & Brothers.
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