Philanthropy high in SF real-estate magnate’s legacy
Gilbert cofounded BGK Group in 1991
Eddie Gilbert of Santa Fe, the real-estate magnate once known as “the boy wonder of Wall Street” and founder of BGK Group, died on Dec. 23, just four days shy of his 93rd birthday.
“Eddie Gilbert was not only cofounder of BGK Group that set the early stage for our company, he was a generous man who contributed to many nonprofit organizations in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and New Mexico,” Michael Mahony, CEO for Gemini Rosemont, a successor company of BGK, said in a statement provided by Gemini Rosemont.
“Eddie created hundreds of jobs for New Mexicans during his lifetime by building BGK Group into one of the nation’s largest commercial real-estate companies,” the statement said. “The fact that the company is still the largest commercial landlord in Albuquerque is just part of his legacy.”
Eddie and his wife, Peaches Gilbert, moved to New Mexico in 1989 and he started BGK two years later. In 2010, he and his partners sold a majority interest in BGK to Rosemont Capital Group, an equity firm with ties to the H.J. Heinz Co.
Twice in the 1960s and 1970s, Gilbert ran afoul of federal law and was convicted of white-collar crimes involving stocks and public companies (he was eventually exonerated of the first charge). Twice, he had to battle back to clear his name and rebuild his business reputation — and he did so successfully.
A Santa Fe resident since 1989, Gilbert got his start in real estate in 1990 with the purchase of a Taco Bell in Española. He then purchased an RV Park in Santa Fe, followed by an investment in self-storage facilities in Albuquerque.
Gilbert formed BGK with Fred Kolber and Ed Berman to focus on the purchase of multi-tenant commercial office buildings, and the rest is history. Before the deal with Rosemont in 2010, the company had executed more than $3 billion in real-estate transactions since its inception, and owned properties in 28 states.
“I feel very lucky,” Gilbert told the Journal North in 2011. “Anything I can do to help somebody who needs something, I will do. I only hope most people feel that way.”
That year, he and his wife were named philanthropists of the year by the Journal North and the Christus St. Vincent Hospital Foundation. Among the beneficiaries of their financial support were the Santa Fe Symphony, the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Assistance Dogs of the West.
The Garfield Street Foundation is the couple’s a philanthropic entity.
Gilbert said in 2011 the foundation tries to work anonymously and in service to people who need help getting up after life has knocked them down.
“I know about struggling. I know about hard times,” he said. “We’re rare. People call us and tell us about situations where a donation can really help, where just a helping hand can make it possible for someone to get back up and get back on her feet — a woman left to raise four kids after her husband dies in a fire, for instance. We’ll pay her mortgage for her. That helps her get started again.
“I don’t give to charity unless I enjoy it, unless I personally feel I’m doing something worthwhile,” Gilbert said.
In 2010, former Gov. Bill Richardson granted Gilbert clemency. The action wasn’t a formal pardon, since the governor had no power to pardon federal crimes. But Richardson’s staff said the clemency restored Gilbert’s civil rights.