Cancer claims the life of Gary Combs

Gary Combs, a local real estate developer that owned Basic Construction and Basic Block brick company in Springdale, died Saturday from cancer complications in a California hospital.

Sources say Combs had been living out of the country while seeking cancer treatment. He was 59. His family has planned a private service in Arkansas in the coming days.

At one time Combs had his hands in several projects that helped to define greater Northwest Arkansas, the largest of which was Pinnacle Hills. He and his former wife Carla Tyson, daughter of Don Tyson, at one time owned the land west of Interstate 540 in Rogers which later became Pinnacle Hills.

Combs sold out his interest to the Pinnacle Group, who later fully developed the retail centers on both sides of the I-540.

After the local real estate market began its meltdown, Combs took on a number of banks — First State Bank, Signature Bank, Metropolitan National, First Federal Bank and Bank of the Ozarks — in the court system.

The $1.5 million foreclosure suit between First State Bank and Combs was still ongoing at the time of his death. Combs did not appear at three separate hearings and was being fined $500 per day since June 26, according to court records.