ATCO Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger Dies
By Nicholas Rizzi April 24, 2023 5:21 pm
reprints
H. Dale Hemmerdinger, chairman of ATCO Properties who previously headed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, died from complications from post-COVID pneumonia, according to the company. He was 78.
Hemmerdinger died April 20 after a seven-week battle with pneumonia, his son, Damon Hemmerdinger, posted on Twitter. The news was first reported by The Real Deal.
“He was a beloved, kind and benevolent leader,” his daughter, Kate Hemmerdinger Goodman, said. “I will miss him and our ability to work together.”
The Hemmerdinger family got its start in real estate in 1922 when the elder Hemmerdinger’s grandfather, Henry Hemmerdinger, bought a four-building industrial complex in Queens for his recycling business. His father, Monroe Hemmerdinger, took over the company in 1962, sold the recycling firm, and went into full developer mode, picking up commercial properties in Miami and Manhattan, The New York Times reported.
“My grandfather viewed real estate as an investment,” H. Dale Hemmerdinger told the Times in 1994. “My father made it the family business.”
While Hemmerdinger originally planned to become a United States Foreign Service officer, he took over his family’s firm in 1967 at the behest of a trustee who said the business was in trouble, according to the Times. He renamed it ATCO and turned it into a major landlord that currently owns more than 25 buildings in New York, Connecticut and Texas. It also has several investments in Europe.
Kate Hemmerdinger Goodman said her father was a “generous” person — both with contributions to politicians and causes he believed in. She said he was also generous with his employees, and knew the names of all his staff and their families..
Aside from his real estate work, Hemmerdinger was known for serving as the chairman of the MTA from 2007 to 2009, where he helped guide the agency through the Great Recession and oversaw the beginning of construction for the East Side Access tunnels, which finally started to provide service between the Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal this year.
“He was a beloved New Yorker, who cared deeply about the city and the politicians who ran it and spent his entire life supporting politicians who helped make the city better,” Kate Hemmerdinger Goodman said.
In his spare time, he was an avid history buff — reading tons of history books — and loved to travel to different parts of the world with his family, having a trip planned to Malta with his wife this year, said Kate Hemmerdinger Goodman. His “favorite” place was out on the water, and he owned two boats, she added.
Hemmerdinger is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; his children, Damon and Kate; his sister, Lyn Fischbach; and five grandchildren.
Nicholas Rizzi can be reached at nrizzi@commercialobserver.com.
