Recollecting memories about Josh Freeman earlier this week, Harold Schmidt, a 10-year Carl M. Freeman Associates employee, said that “sometimes it’s frustrating” that people did not better know the man who became a local icon.
Freeman
Although he called a Gaithersburg, Md., farm home, Freeman was beloved by many in coastal Delaware for his philanthropic efforts, friendship, responsibility as a businessman and general kindness.
Freeman’s life as a family man, friend, businessman and philanthropist ended in tragedy on Dec. 14 after the helicopter in which he is was a passenger crashed outside of Dagsboro just after 6 p.m., killing him and Alisa Danielle Howell, a 30-year-old pilot based in Washington, D.C. Freeman, a father of three, was 42 years old.
“It’s just a tragic loss for everybody,” Schmidt said while recalling many of his encounters with the late Freeman.
Freeman had left a holiday party at the Village of Bear Trap Dunes — one of his company’s developments — bound for another function outside of Washington. The helicopter crashed only about a quarter-mile from its departure point, into a farm field just east of Dagsboro. Although dense fog covered much of Sussex County last Thursday night, the cause of the crash is still unknown.
Gary Meredith, Ocean View’s mayor, who attended Freeman’s Sunday funeral in Maryland, came to know the developer through his dealings with the town, which annexed Bear Trap.
“We lost a great man,” Meredith said. “He was an energetic, hard-working person who brought out the best in everyone around him.”
Also remembering Freeman, company officials posted a message on Carl M. Freeman Company’s Web site shortly after his death last week.
“Carl M. Freeman Companies is shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of its President and CEO, Joshua Freeman,” it reads. “Josh will be deeply missed by all who were fortunate enough to experience his tremendous generosity, leadership and friendship.”
Freeman was buried with military honors at the Tusculum family farm in Gaithersburg.
Freeman is survived by his wife, Michelle, three children, mother Virginia, three sisters, his extended family and a host of friends. His father Carl M. Freeman the founder of Carl M. Freeman Companies, died in a 1998 car accident that also injured his mother and sisters.
Freeman the businessman, philanthropist
At the time of his death, Freeman served as chairman of the board of trustees for the Carl M. Freeman Foundation – a philanthropic organization that has handed out hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants in Sussex County and in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. He was also president and CEO of Carl M. Freeman Associates, the real estate company founded in 1946 by his father, Carl M. Freeman. Carl Freeman also founded the Freeman foundation, in 1960.
Freeman developments in the area include Sea Colony, a ground-breaking beachfront development first proposed in 1971; the Village at Bear Trap Dunes in Ocean View; and Bayside, the company’s newest resort development in Delaware, featuring more than 1,600 homes.
Route 54-based Bayside — mostly because of its location on Sussex County’s pristine waterways — was controversial when first proposed in 1999. In a move that was not unusual, however, Freeman compromised with county officials and area residents, cutting the number of homes from the nearly 3,000 that were originally proposed to less than 1,700 when it was approved in 2001, officials said.
“A lot of builders would have walked away from that,” said Bob Stickels, Sussex County administrator at the time of Bayside’s approval. He called Freeman’s death “devastating.” “Sometimes you have more people that are more interested in the bottom line than they are in what needs to be done environmentally. He was not that way,” Stickels said of Freeman.
George Cole (R-4th), a long-time Sussex County Councilman who was on council when it approved Bayside, echoed Stickels’ sentiment.
“Josh was the kind of developer who was trying to do the right thing,” he said.
And not only did Freeman compromise on the number of houses; Freeman Associates donated more than $1 million of Bayside’s profits to the Sussex County Land Trust — an organization seeking to preserve open space.
“The last time I saw him… he was really stressing his family, and the desire for his company to really be a positive part of this community,” said Dennis Forney, secretary of the SCLT and publisher of the Cape Gazette, a twice-weekly, Lewes-based newspaper. “He believed that developers could have a hand in preserving land for Sussex County.”
Freeman’s giving nature transcended normal boundaries normally set by area developers, officials and others who dealt who dealt with him have said recently.
Through the Freeman Foundation, Freeman and his organization distributed major and minor grants to organizations in Sussex County and in suburban Washington. Major grant winners in 2005 included the Lewes-based Beebe Medical Center, which operates weekend and summer facilities in Millville and is planning a year-round facility in Clarksville.
“Josh Freeman was a valued and dedicated friend of Beebe Medical Center,” Jeffery Fried, Beebe Medical Center’s president and CEO said this week. “He recognized the important relationship between access to high quality medical care and the quality of one’s life. In doing so, he was committed to helping Beebe Medical Center improve the quality of life of those we serve. Beebe has lost a good friend.”
The Freeman Foundation also awards FACES grants of between $500 and $2,000 annually. Sussex County Senior Services Inc. (CHEER) and Frankford Elementary School were among the 2006 minor-grant recipients.
Because of his efforts, Dr. Susan Bunting, Indian River School District superintendent, called Freeman dedicated to the young people of this area, despite the fact that he did not call this area home.
“I really think he had an attachment most developers don’t have,” Cole said. “To lose his life like that is awful tragic. It’s a big loss for the family, the community, everything.”
Freeman a ‘doer’
When the Town of Ocean View first discussed building a new police station, Meredith met with Josh Freeman, hoping to buy some land that Carl M. Freeman Associates owned adjacent to the Village of Bear Trap Dunes.
“When we met with him there was no talk of selling,” Meredith said. “He said, ‘We’ll give it to you.’ You’re talking about a half-million (dollar) piece of property, probably.”
The town is now building its police station on that lot, just north of Bear Trap on Central Avenue.
People who knew Freeman have said that such a gesture was the norm. Schmidt said that Freeman would give, without ever expecting anything in return.
“He did that in so many ways for so many people,” Schmidt said. “That was always flat amazing to me.”
The Human Resources director vividly remembers delivering the eulogy at his own father’s funeral in a central New Jersey church and looking up to see Freeman walk through the church doors unannounced.
“This guy has his whole business to do and he comes to my dad’s funeral in New Jersey. I was just amazed,” Schmidt said. “I didn’t even know he knew about it. That was mind-boggling. That’s just the type of guy he was.”
Besides serving in human resources for Freeman Associates, Schmidt coordinates the company’s theatre program, currently based out of the Village of Bear Trap Dunes. Six years ago, bringing theatre to the beach became a project for Freeman, Schmidt said, with Freeman contributing personal and business funds.
Bear Trap’s Annual Free Summer Theatre Festival, held over a long summer weekend, its dinner theatre on weekends in the winter and the spring, its kids’ theatre and the Village Players — a community theatre production group — were all made possible with Freeman’s backing.
Even Schmidt’s own play, “Einstein’s Breakfast,” which was featured at last summer’s free theatre festival at Bear Trap’s outdoor theatre, was also the beneficiary of Josh Freeman’s personal contributions, he said.
“That was a great thing to do,” Schmidt said. “He liked the idea that people would come and families would sit on the green and enjoy theatre. He wanted people to know that he wasn’t just building houses and leaving.”
Bruce Layton, president of Lower Sussex Little League, came to know that fact first-hand in 2004 when he began planning the initial Roxana-hosted Little League Softball World Series.
Freeman has provided housing in Bear Trap for all of the World Series participants for the three years the Series has been held in Roxana. In an interview before this year’s World Series, Freeman estimated the housing donation to translate into about $50,000 annually.
He also paid for the addition of 11 flag poles and a $48,000 building used for the storage of equipment at the Little League complex. And not only did he donate, Layton said, Freeman also attended the World Series.
“He was a doer,” Layton said. “(Freeman) helped a lot of kids even though the kids may not realize. He’s a part of the community.”
Before his death last week, Freeman committed to donating housing for World Series participants for another three years.
“We’ve said as long as they want to do it, we want to support them,” Josh Freeman said in an interview this summer. “Not only is this a great event for the community, a great event for the girls, and the great event for families, states and cities, but it’s a great way for the community to really get involved and support its own.”
Freeman’s path and accolades
Born on July 27, 1964, Josh Freeman grew up on the Tusculum farm in Gaithersburg, Md., that he had called home until he died last week.
As a young adult, Freeman did not immediately follow a path into the family business. After graduating from the Landon School — a private Bethesda, Md., school for boys in grades 3 through 12 — Freeman served as a Green Beret in the United States Army Special Forces for three years.
In his time as a Green Beret, he received an Army Service Ribbon, an Army Good Conduct Medal, a Parachute Badge, an Army Achievement Medal, an Army Commendation Medal and a French Commando Badge.
When he returned home in 1986, he joined his father’s business as a leasing agent. Learning the business from his father, he quickly worked his way up through the business and was named president in 1992, and then became CEO in 1998 after his father’s tragic death.
As CEO, he grew the company and continued his father’s vision, building communities and helping them through philanthropic activities.
“Josh was very high-energy and a visionary about the impact that we could make to improve the quality of life where we did business,” said Cheryl Kagan, vice president and executive director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation. Kagan said she does not expect major changes and that the foundation will continue to follow Freeman’s philanthropic vision. “In everything we did, the foundation and the charitable efforts were involved,” she added.
Tom Halverstadt, senior vice president of Carl M. Freeman Associates and general manager of Carl M. Freeman communities, called his six years working with Freeman the most pleasurable time in his working career, which spans four decades. He does not expect major changes in the company but said that no definitive answer will be available about its roadmap for at least a couple months.
“He was very much a believer in giving back to the communities in which he worked, as well as doing the right thing for the people that he worked with and for,” Halverstadt said. “I would certainly think that we would hope to see the operation continue in the spirit in which he led it. Nothing really changes other than our hearts are broken.”
Freeman, who was serving on the boards of directors of several organizations at the time of his death, was the founder of Bethany Partners LLC — a private equity boutique which invests in Mid-Atlantic companies. He was also an investor in Lincoln Holdings LLC, owner of the Washington Capitals and the MCI center, and partial owner of the Washington Wizards.
A moment of silence was observed for Freeman at a Washington Wizards/Miami Heat game last week, and Washington Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis issued a statement about Freeman after last week’s tragic accident.
“We are truly shocked and saddened by the sudden, tragic loss of Josh Freeman, a good friend and partner in Lincoln Holdings,” he said in the statement. “All of us associated with the Capitals organization will lend our thoughts and prayers to the Freeman family.”
Freeman was enrolled in the Harvard Business School’s president/owner management program. His favorite activities included martial arts, reading, running and the opera, according to biographical information.
Among other awards and accolades, Freeman was awarded with the 2004 Marriott International Inc. Arts and Humanities Corporate Patron Award for Excellence and the 2005 Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce Lighthouse Award for lifetime achievement.
“(A) philosophy of charitable giving was part of his upbringing and giving and he made it part of his culture,” said Karen McGrath, the Chamber’s executive director.
“Because that level of giving and support of others was literally a part of his being and his ethical person, he was able to make that part of the corporate culture of the Freeman companies. I’m sure all of that will continue because it’s so engrained.”
Point Editor Darin McCann and staff reporter M. Patricia Titus contributed to this report.