Richard J. Loughlin, 74; Helped Develop the Century 21 Brand

Richard J. Loughlin, who helped build Century 21 Real Estate Corp. into the franchiser of the world’s largest residential real estate sales organization as president and chief executive, has died, the company said. He was 74.

Loughlin, a minority owner of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, died Aug. 1 in San Francisco of thyroid cancer.

Loughlin was running Century 21’s Northern California region in 1981 when he was tapped to take over the international company, then based in Irvine.

“Being president was the furthest thing from my mind,” Laughlin said at the time.

The Los Angeles native and UCLA alumnus broke into the real estate business in the mid-1950s with his family’s San Fernando Valley firm.

He founded Century 21 Real Estate of Northern California Inc. in 1973 and built it into the most profitable operation in the chain that helped professionalize the home sales business.

“Century 21 was the first real significant brand in the industry with a trademark everyone recognized,” said real estate expert Bradley Inman, publisher of Inman News.

In 1979 Loughlin sold his regional franchise to the parent company for more than $4.4 million and could have retired. But after sharp growth during the 1970s, the real estate industry was struggling with one of its worst recessions since World War II.

Loughlin continued to operate the regional business for two more years, then ran the international company for 14 years, through recovery and the boom of the late 1980s and during another downturn in the early 1990s.

In 1995, after Century 21 was taken over by a new owner, he was replaced at age 63 by investor Robert Pittman, the creator of the MTV music video channel.

Loughlin was president emeritus for two more years, serving as an advisor to the company.

He bought a stake in the Panthers in 1993 and enjoyed entertaining friends at games.

Survivors include his wife, Bobbie, and their combined family of five children, Lorin, Lance, Kevin, Greg and David, as well as four grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held Sept. 18 in Napa.