Head of his own firm, Paul E. Stark*, MAI, was responsible for a large share of Madison's home building and neighborhood development during the 1920's and 1930's. In addition, he was president of the Madison Association of Commerce, the Community Chest, YMCA, and Kiwanis Club, and worked for the establishment of Wisconsin's notable arboretum at Madison. A director of the Bank of Madison, he also was an organizer of the Wisconsin Association of Real Estate Boards and of the Madison Real Estate Board. He served each first as secretary, then as president.
Wisconsin was one of the first states to enact a license law for real estate brokers, and Paul Stark worked through three state legislatures to secure this enactment. Chairman of the first national license law committee set up by the National Association of Real Estate Boards, he assisted in drawing up the first model license law. He was chairman of the Association's committee which, at a national conference in 1925, began the systematic organization of real estate education. He was chairman of the subsequent Joint Commission on Real Estate Education, representing colleges and universities as well as real estate boards, which outlined the first real estate courses in some 85 colleges and universities, and which arranged for the writing and publishing of the first texts on real estate methods and practice. He later headed the Association's national committee on taxation.
As National Association president, Mr. Stark secured amendments to the act establishing the FHA, which greatly extended mortgage financing facilities on small, low-cost homes.
When the Federal Home Loan Bank System was organized, Mr. Stark was appointed a member of the board of directors of the Home Loan Bank of Chicago. As such, he had an important part in formulating the policies of that institution.
Source: Presidents of the National Association of REALTORS®, (Chicago: NAR, 1980).
*Deceased