Commercial developer Dickson Flake dies at 81
by July 1, 2020 9:37 am 880 views
L. Dickson Flake. Photo courtesy of the Pryor Center.
Longtime real estate developer L. Dickson Flake passed away peacefully on Tuesday (June 30) at the age of 81, according to a statement from his company, Colliers International.
Flake, who was preceded in death by his wife, Linda, began his career in commercial real estate in 1965 after earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Distinction and a Master of Business Administration with High Distinction from the University of Michigan.
In 1971, Dickson co-founded Barnes, Quinn, Flake & Anderson, Inc. – now Colliers International | Arkansas – and was a managing partner and shareholder until 2002. He continued to work as an advisor and consultant with the firm until his death.
Over the course of his 55-year career, Flake played a role in several of Little Rock’s major developments including the 30-story Regions tower, Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield’s downtown Little Rock headquarters, USAble Corporate Center, Breckenridge Village, Systematics headquarters (now FIS), the Arkansas Department of Human Services downtown Little Rock headquarters, the Jones Eye Institute at UAMS and Simmons Arena.
“Dickson was an Arkansas business legend, a service-oriented leader who gave his time to family, our firm and our community,” Kevin Huchingson, chairman and CEO of Colliers Arkansas said. “Dickson hired me out of graduate school in 1993 and has been my mentor and close friend ever since. He taught many of us the principles of real estate, and established the foundation and core values of our firm. It will be hard to find a man with more integrity or character.”
Among his list of professional accomplishments, he was named the Arkansas Real Estate Association Realtor of the Year in 1971, was invited in 1974 to membership in the exclusive, 1,000-member American Society of Real Estate Counselors – the youngest person to be invited at that time – and was awarded the Clinton B. Snyder trophy from the Marketing Institute of the National Association of Realtors in 1982 for a complex exchange transaction involving a series of four parcels of land, 13 deeds and 10 parties.
He was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 2011 and was honored last month by Little Rock Rotary Club 99 as the 2020 Business & Professional Leader of the Year. Flake was also the treasurer for the Little Rock Tech Park board of directors.
Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date, according to the firm.