Professional Profile: Robert DeSimone - 1974

Name: Robert DeSimone - 1974

Title: President

Company: Mass. Management Corp.

Location: Boston, Mass.

Birthplace: Brookline, Mass.

Robert DeSimone, president of Mass. Management Corp. of Boston, has been in the real estate field only since 1968, when he joined Venture Assoc. But since birth on July 4, 1933, his colorful career has ranged from auto dealer to City Greeter in Boston. A graduate of Newton Junior College, he was brought up in Brookline. His dad founded the California Wine Co. and Sunnybrook Beverage Co. but at the age of 21, Bob became the youngest Packard car dealer in the U.S. when he established the Needham Packard Co. That lasted three years and sold the business to a competitor. He served his cousin, former Gov. Foster Furcolo, as a $1 a year man while learning the art of politics. Then followed a job with the Registry of Motor Vehicles. In 1958, he became president of Arlington Insurance Co. Some 18 months later, he sold his stock and began another career as the official greeter for Mayor John Collins, a sort of goodwill ambassador for the city. This gave Bob the opportunity of meeting some famous national and international dignitaries: German chancellor Willy Brandt, actor James Stewart, entertainer Maurice Chevalier, King Frederick of Denmark, Bob Hope and the late President John F. Kennedy. He prizes a photo with the latter, signed “To one of my long time friends, best wishes.” In 1963, in cooperation with movie theater owner Ben Stack, he produced the most grandiose Mayor’s Charity Field Day in the history of the city. His presentation of Cleopatra (the movie) brought thousands of people to the Music Hall Theater and raised over $200,000 (the largest amount ever brought in by the event) which is used to provide wheelchairs, eyeglasses, artificial limbs and other necessities. Bob was also instrumental in bringing the Today TV Show to Boston on Independence Day. That was when Hugh Downs was the host in the late ‘60s and the show, which cost $80,000, was staged in front of Faneuil Hall. After leaving the city’s employ, he became director of the Miss Universe Pageant until 1968. Mass. Management, working with Hull Redevelopment Authority, assembled over a two-year period a $100 million project to renew the Nantasket Beach area. As a consultant for Lehman Investment Bankers of New York and representing well-known architect Edward Durrell Stone, Bob put together the project which involves apartments, condominiums, hotels and marina along Nantasket Ave. The first phase, worth about $30 million, is now underway. His firm also represents the Sherower Group of West Germany, a financial investment organization, in trying to get approval for a satellite city on the site of the Chelsea Naval Hospital on the Mystic River, another multi-million dollar development. A bachelor, now living in Needham, Bob still dabbles in politics as a hobby and also enjoys tennis, swimming, and boating. He is a member of the National Mortgage Association, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Bay Club, Executive Club and Sheriffs Association of Suffolk County.