The only honorary president of the National Association of REALTORS®, William H. Gardner* of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, was accorded this distinction by action of the Board of Directors and confirmed by the Delegate Body at the Association's annual convention in 1933. An advisory board made up of past presidents of the Association suggested that Mr. Gardner be elected an honorary member of their group, stating that Mr. Gardner, in the long years of his service for the Association, would certainly have been called to its presidency had he been a U.S. citizen and resident.
A member of the board of directors for many years, Mr. Gardner also served the Association as first vice-president for years 1930, 1931, and 1932, as a member of its executive committee in 1929, and on its advisory board of past presidents.
A native of Devonshire, England, Mr. Gardner was born in 1875 and moved to Manitoba at the age of 17. He was president of Oldfield, Kirby & Gardner, Ltd., real estate, insurance and financial agents, a firm founded in 1881, from which he retired in 1935. He was a founding member and president of the Winnipeg Real Estate Board and served for two years as honorary president of the Junior Section of the Winnipeg Board of Trade and chairman of the Winnipeg Community Chest. He also was director of the Canada Trust Company. He died in Winnipeg in January, 1951.
Source: National Association of REALTORS® Archives
*Deceased