Giroux, longest tenured member of the MBREA and a member of the Appraisal Hall of Fame, passes away

Boston, MA The MBREA is saddened to note the death of Paul A. Giroux, MRA, at the age of 94, on October 11. He is the longest tenured member of the MBREA and a member of the Appraisal Hall of Fame. 

Paul grew up in the real estate business. He started collecting rents for his father while in high school. He attended Northeastern University where he studied French literature. He is fluent in French and has a working knowledge of German which he studied at Ohio State. After military service in WWII he entered the family real estate and insurance business. He quickly embraced the real estate side of the office. 

He started appraising real estate in 1946. In 1947 he made his first court appearance in Bristol County testifying for the petitioner in a land taking for the Fall River airport.

Early in his career he studied Urban Land Economics and appraising at URI extension in Providence under the late Stephen Reed. Later he took several appraisal courses including Eminent Domain at UConn. Paul also lectured on real estate and real estate appraisal in the 50s at Stonehill College. A few of his students later became competitors. In the late 70s he lectured at the Advance Tax program at B.U. Law on preparation of opinion evidence in ad valorem cases. Paul became a member of MBREA in 1954 and served many years as trustee. He went through the chairs up to vice presidency. In 1966 he declined the Presidency because of the untimely death of his brother who was then managing their insurance agency.

On June 11, 2014, Paul was inducted into the Appraisal Hall of Fame. Included in his class was a “who’s who” of individuals who made outstanding contributions to the appraisal profession, including: Robert Bostrom, RA, David Bunton, Karl Chip Case, Ph.D., Steven Elliott, MRA, Mary Granville, MRA, Chester Nicora, MRA, William Pastuszek, Jr., MRA, and Peter Tetreault, MRA.

MBREA extends their condolences to his sons, both of whom are appraisers, Bernard and Claude, and to the family.