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Roy Wilson

Roy Wilson

Roy Wilson is one of the longest serving members of the Calgary Real Estate Board. He joined the board in 1952, and has been very active in both the CREB and the Alberta Real Estate Board.

Roy Wilson was born in Coronation, Alberta in 1932. In 1946, he and his family moved to Calgary. His father, Forest Wilson, was in real estate and Roy was determined to follow in his footsteps. At the age of 18, Roy wanted to join his father's company, Wilson Realty, but policy stipulated that he had to be 21 to qualify as a licensed REALTOR®. He approached the president of CREB, Howard Kelly, about this issue and was able to get special approval for a license. While working in the real estate industry, Roy also enrolled in the Agricultural Program at Olds College; he then registered in courses to obtain his Associate of the Real Estate Institute (ARI) designation and the Fellow of the Real Estate Institute (FRI) designation.

Roy Wilson joined the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) because he wanted to help the organization meet its goals of improving the real estate industry through better organization, education and ethics. Roy Wilson became president of CREB in 1961 and then president the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA) in 1965. He was also Chairman for the National Institute of Real Estate Brokers.

Roy Wilson was active, both as a REALTOR® and in his personal life. He married Erma, and had two children Keith (now a REALTOR®) and Shannon (a nurse). In his spare time, he earned a pilot's license and often flew a plane for business purposes. In one instance, Wilson received an offer on a property in Calgary owned by a farmer in Saskatchewan; however, the farmer did not have a phone so Wilson flew the plane out to Saskatchewan and landed on the farmer's field in order to successfully close the sale. While Roy was active in the real estate industry, he became an MLA for Calgary Bow from 1971-1975. He also found the time to enroll in an Advanced Management program at Harvard University in 1979. Later he earned a Certified Land Use Planner designation from the Real Estate Institute of Canada.

Roy Wilson is now a honourary lifetime member of CREB and AREA, and he continues to be active in organized real estate, particularly through his work with CREB's Charitable Foundation. The Roy and Erma Wilson Family Fund donates generous sums to the Charitable Foundation. In 2004, the Wilson family donated $20,000 to support the development of the Crestwood Affordable Housing Project. Roy, a cancer survivor, is a volunteer driver for the Canadian Cancer Society. He is also the director of the Webber Academy, a private school in Calgary.

For more information on Roy Wilson, read the Calgary Real Estate News article "Roy Wilson: a real estate visionary" in our feature article database.

References

Goheen, Krista. "Roy Wilson: A Real Estate Visionary." Legends of Real Estate. May 27, 2005.

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