These prominent golden-agers talk about lifelong achievements, what they learned through the years, what they are planning on next and how living longer is a rewarding daily adventure.
Written by David Hodes
Interviewed by David M. Block, David Hodes and Pete Mundo
Ralph Varnum
Birth date: May 26, 1936, Age: 88
“I’ve come to believe that one of the main traits of personal success for anyone in any business is authenticity.”
Commercial real estate maven Ralph Varnum has already accomplished so much in his long life—founder, president, director, leader—but he is not winding down his career. He became the founding principal of the real estate brokerage firm Varnum, Armstrong, Deeter, Inc. in January 1969, essentially spinning the firm out from Coldwell Banker.
He has been the national president of the Certified Commercial Investment Member Institute, national president of the Realtors National Marketing Institute, president of the Commercial Investment Division of the Johnson County Board Realtors and past president of both the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce and Shawnee Mission Medical Center. Varnum was also a former director of Shawnee Mission Medical Center.
He still comes to work every day and still does the work. His firm is more involved in managing properties, but it still does a fair amount of brokerage, leasing, and sales. “We rely a lot on our properties that we have developed and still own from over the years, which are mainly smaller retail,” he says.
Varnum stays active with the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce to keep involved in what’s going on around the city.
Who You Know
The real estate business is largely a contact business, he says. It’s who you know and what opportunity they present that can help get the work done, something that’s harder to do when you get older. “And all of a sudden, you realize all your contacts have either retired or are not with us anymore, so it’s easy to feel like you’re not involved,” he says. “You have to stay involved as long as you feel like you’re able to make good decisions. You have to be yourself and don’t try to sell something that isn’t there. You should give honest answers, good or bad.”
Reputation comes into play every day. “From the time you are a kid on, reputation is absolutely everything,” Varnum says.
Commercial real estate is a long-term business. Those who succeed have to have a long-term vision, Varnum says. “It is not a get-rich-quick business at all. Almost every property we have ever developed has struggled initially. You may have to hold it for 10 years before it even stabilizes. Then, long term, it ends up being a good investment.”
The Complications
All those business plans took a hit during the pandemic, which Varnum called “three lost years” in commercial real estate development. “But we were very fortunate,” he says. “They’re mainly smaller retail. Those tenants did remarkably well during the pandemic. I just admire them tremendously. They’re creative and resilient. They hung in there.”
Varnum works with smaller tenants a lot, but he loves the complicated big deals, sometimes connected to working with startups. “But in terms of just feeling good, it’s from helping someone that’s just trying to get started,” he says. “A lot of times they’re immigrants. We’ve got several businesses run by people from India or China or Asia. These are hard-working, smart people that just make it happen. We’ll roll the dice on someone like that.”
The most important thing in his life right now is his grandchildren. “I’m an old dad,” he says. “Of my three sons, the oldest just entered his 40s. The other two are still in their 30s. So I’m just having grandchildren. And that would have to be the number one thing in my life right now. It’s a real thrill because it is something I wasn’t sure I would get to see.”
The Learning
Over the course of his business life, Varnum says that he tended to charge ahead without knowing something—and without knowing that he didn’t know something. “I’ve been willing to jump into things, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt that I didn’t have more to learn,” he says.
His advice for 30-, 40- and 50-somethings is to make sure that you really love what you’re doing. “There are going to be ups and downs. That’s the norm—ups and downs in life and in any business. So prepare for it, put a little money away, and plan for the long term.”
He’s been lucky, he says, to be blessed with good health. “So far, most of my marbles are still there,” he says. But if he could magically become an expert in something, it would be international relations. “We’re so globally connected now,” Varnum says. “It’s ridiculous that we’ve got a couple of wars going on around the world. And yet they’re not easy to solve. The people that work in that area and are effective in that area are doing great things. That would be interesting for me.”
Life for Varnum is about figuring out how to get outside of himself. “It’s a very hard thing to do,” he says, “and I’m not there yet. Figuring out how to concentrate on others and let them know you are interested in them.”
Reflections
Varnum has witnessed social upheaval during his life and is encouraged by the positive change that resulted. “I think it started with Harry Truman and then Lyndon Johnson about racial issues,” he says. “We’re at that stage where we’re a long way from where we need to be. But that’s changed a tremendous amount in my life.”
He looks back to his childhood and remembers that he never felt he was prejudiced. “But some of the conversations that we had were just natural,” he says. “Some of the things you’d say just automatically back then, what you talked about. Those were very, very racially improper at the time.”
The real secret to life is about how you treat other people, Varnum says, which is something that his religion taught him. He goes to church once a week. His oldest son, Benedict, is an Episcopalian priest in Elkhorn, Nebraska. “When you boil down Christianity, the main commandment is to love your God, treat other people like yourself,” he says. “I think that’s the main message. The best advice I have ever gotten is to take every day one at a time and remember that the sun is going to come up in the morning.”
“There are going to be ups and downs. That’s the norm—ups and downs in life and in any business. So prepare for it, put a little money away, and plan for the long term.”
“You have to stay involved as long as you feel like you’re able to make good decisions.”
