Remembering Gail Liniger — And a RE/MAX Legacy

Remembering Gail Liniger — And a RE/MAX Legacy

This has been an emotional and historic week for the RE/MAX family.

This week, RE/MAX entered a new chapter as The Real Brokerage and RE/MAX Holdings completed their combination, creating Real REMAX Group. And yesterday, we learned that Gail Liniger, co-founder of RE/MAX, passed away at the age of 81.

It has caused me to stop and think about what RE/MAX has meant to me personally throughout my career.

In 2004, I flew to Denver, Colorado, with Wayne Fredrick and had the opportunity to visit RE/MAX headquarters and meet Dave Liniger. It was there that I truly began to understand just how powerful this company was, what Dave and Gail had created, and where RE/MAX was going.

Through the years, that wonderful RE/MAX balloon became much more than a company logo to me. 

It became a symbol of independence, hard work, professionalism and the belief that an individual real estate agent could build a successful business while still putting clients first.

The red, white and blue became part of my identity in real estate. After all these years, clients still recognize me by those colors and that balloon. Many see a RE/MAX balloon and immediately think of me. I can't think of a greater compliment.

And now RE/MAX is beginning another chapter.

I don't know exactly what the future will look like under Real REMAX Group or what changes may come. None of us do. But I do know this:

Companies evolve. Technology changes. Markets change. But a great legacy doesn't disappear.

Dave and Gail Liniger started RE/MAX in 1973 with an idea that changed the real estate industry. What they built grew far beyond Denver and eventually reached more than 120 countries and territories and generations of real estate professionals.

I am one of those agents.

I have been proud to carry the RE/MAX name, the red, white and blue, and that balloon throughout so much of my career.

So as RE/MAX begins a new chapter, and as we say goodbye to one of the remarkable people who helped start it all, I find myself looking at that balloon a little differently.

It represents where we have been.

It represents the people who built this company.

And I hope it will continue to represent the values that made RE/MAX special in the first place.

Thank you, Gail, for helping create something that became such an important part of my life and career. Your legacy will continue every time that red, white and blue balloon rises into the sky. 

Rest in peace, Gail Liniger.