Arthur Leitch; Realtor Led Fair-Housing Push

Arthur Leitch, the former president of the National Assn. of Realtors who in the 1970s pressed the trade group to adopt a policy that would end discriminatory housing practices, has died. He was 90.

Leitch, a longtime San Diego real estate agent and developer, died of a heart attack July 5--his 90th birthday--in Escondido, Calif.

Elected president of the national realty lobby in 1975, Leitch sponsored the association’s Affirmative Marketing agreement, whose mandate was to uphold the 1968 federal Fair Housing Act. The act made it illegal to discriminate based on color, ethnicity or gender.

Leitch presented the marketing agreement at the National Assn. of Realtors’ 1975 convention in San Francisco, where the policy statement was met with widespread and vehement opposition, according to members who were at the annual gathering.

“[Leitch] was a quiet, gentle person, but he took the tiger by the tail on this issue,” said Nancy Wilson Smith, a senior vice president of the group. “There was tremendous division about it among our membership.”

Leitch ultimately prevailed, and the landmark fair-housing agreement, developed jointly by the National Assn. of Realtors, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, passed in November 1975.

Leitch’s advocacy of fair housing policies marked a startling reversal of the position he took in 1964, when he served as president of the California Real Estate Assn. During his tenure, he supported Proposition 14, a 1964 California ballot initiative that outlawed fair-housing legislation. The state Supreme Court threw out the measure.

When the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968, Leitch felt compelled to bring the National Assn. of Realtors into compliance with national policy, and spearheaded the campaign to support equal housing opportunities.

Born in Oakland, Leitch attended San Diego State University and UC San Diego. Before opening his first real estate office with his brother, Burt, he managed dental laboratories in San Diego and San Francisco. He also served in the Army Reserve.

During the 1970s, Leitch owned 17 realty offices in San Diego County. He taught real estate development courses at UC San Diego and served on the real estate advisory committee at the San Diego campus.

Leitch is survived by his daughter, Susan Hassard of Valley Center in San Diego County; a granddaughter; and two great-granddaughters.