Wilmington’s Wills Elliman elected Regional Director of Society of Industrial and Office Realtors
Wills Elliman, a seasoned commercial real estate executive and senior managing director at Newmarkin Wilmington, has been elected Regional Director for the Mid-Atlantic Region by theSociety of Industrial and Office Realtors(SIOR).
He will officially begin his two-year term this November at SIOR’s Fall 2025 conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
SIOR is a global organization of more than 4,000 elite commercial real estate professionals in over 50 countries. Its members are recognized for adhering to the highest standards of ethics, professionalism, and performance.
The organization is the leading global professional office and industrial real estate association.
Elliman’s experience
Elliman, who has more than 35 years of industry experience, joined SIOR in 1996 and is widely recognized for his leadership in office brokerage, tenant representation, and corporate services.
He has been with Newmark since 2001 and holds several prestigious industry designations, including SIOR, CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member), and MCR (Master of Corporate Real Estate).
Elliman’s impact on Wilmington’s commercial real estate market has been significant.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, his team has assisted 21 tenants—among them a Fortune 75 company and 18 law firms—in navigating complex lease restructurings and relocations.
His recent transactions total $279 million in Class A office building sales, and he is recognized for his expertise in leasing large-scale vacancies in high-profile properties such as Christiana Executive Campus and 802 Delaware Avenue.
A graduate of Deerfield Academy and Duke University, with additional study at Oxford University, Elliman remains active in professional organizations including SIOR, CoreNet Global, and CCIM.
He devotes the majority of his practice to tenant representation, with additional focus on landlord assignments and national industrial requirements.
Following his retirement, Tom Perry earned his Merchant Marine Captain’s License (OUPV) this last winter and is preparing for long passages with his wife, Randy, on their Grand Banks Europa 52*. They plan to summer up in Maine and, if all goes well, head to Florida and the Bahamas this winter.
Ben Patton recently wrote a Memorial Day Remembrance and your blog was just able to catch up to it.
This Memorial Day, let’s remember the veterans still fighting
Memorial Day has always been a solemn day in my family. I grew up the descendant of six generations of career Army officers. My father often reminded my siblings and me that we “never missed a meal or heard a shot fired in anger,” and that it was our job to thank those who had. His point was clear: Our comfort was made possible by the sacrifices of others.
But in recent years, I have come to believe that Memorial Day needs a broader lens. Even as we rightly honor those who died while serving their country, we must also acknowledge the quieter, often invisible losses here at home.
Since the start of the War on Terror in 2001, more than 7,000 U.S. service members have died during their service, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 140,000 veterans took their own lives between 2001 and 2022 — well over 6,000 veterans every year, or an average of more than 17 each day.
These deaths may not be the result of enemy fire, but they are casualties of war just the same. Research has consistently shown that suicide among veterans is closely linked to their military experience — particularly exposure to combat, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the often abrupt loss of identity and purpose following discharge. Veterans are most at risk immediately after leaving the service, when many many feel most disconnected from the fellowship and mission that once defined their lives.
During deployment, servicemembers develop extraordinary bonds. Many of the veterans I have worked with over the past decade say that their primary mission in combat was not glory or medals — it was getting their people home safely. That sense of unity is a kind of armor. But when they return home, that armor often disappears. They leave their unit, lose their support system and face a civilian world that doesn’t always understand the war they’re still fighting.
Lt. Col. Charley Watkins, my dad’s Vietnam chopper pilot who now works with veterans in transition, calls this their “new norm.” It’s when the camaraderie fades, and the isolation begins.
That isolation is often the most dangerous battlefield. In my work leading filmmaking workshops for veterans, I’ve seen the power of collaboration up close: Men and women who have never met coming together to craft narratives that express shared service experiences and help them begin to make sense of things that no longer make sense.
These aren’t just creative exercises. They are personal, hopeful, often transformative opportunities for veterans to feel heard, valued, and part of a team again. Dr. Rachel Yehuda, Mental Health Chief at the Bronx VA Medical Center has said of our workshops, “Once these struggling veterans begin to see the world differently, anything is possible.”
The films themselves are also a potent way for the rest of us to empathize through a medium we all understand. Of course, filmmaking is only one of many collaborative tools for healing. The real solution starts with awareness and then action.
Civilians don’t need to be experts in trauma to make a difference. Often, the most powerful thing we can do is simple: show up. A call. A coffee. An invitation to a family cookout.
These seemingly small gestures can offer the lifeline that keeps someone connected.
One of my closest friends, Capt. Rich Barbato, a decorated Iraq War veteran, has lost 42 soldiers from his airborne battalion to suicide. “If there had been more opportunities and ways to recreate a sense of community when I came home,” he told me recently, “many more of my brothers in arms would be alive today.”
That should haunt us. And it should move us to act.
Millions of men and women have courageously served this country so that others like me wouldn’t have to. So that we could choose to forget the fact that so many went to war and made the ultimate sacrifice; so that we could pursue prosperity and live our lives in peace. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe the ability to lose ourselves in a festive, gorgeous May weekend is simply proof of the value and purity of that gift. And yet that is precisely why it is so important that we do acknowledge our veterans on Memorial Day and every day.
So this Memorial Day, while we honor those who died in service to our country, let us also remember those who died after their service — casualties of a war that never truly ended for them. Let us support the families they left behind. And let us recognize that preventing future loss is not just the responsibility of the VA or the Pentagon. It’s on all of us.
Benjamin Patton is the Founder and Executive Director of the Patton Veterans Project. He is the grandson of World War II commander General George S. Patton, Jr. and son of Major General George S. Patton IV, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.
by Benjamin Patton, Opinion Contributor - 05/26/25
Doug Schmidt reports, "I was down in Austin Texas last week for a Longevity conference and was able to meet up with Bruce Gregory for lunch! We caught up on a lot and he is becoming quite the farmer and marksman when he’s not trading crypto. Insanely his wife, is an alumna of my son’s small high school on Long Island (Stony Brook School). It was fantastic to see him and he says to tell everybody in the class if you’re in the neighborhood come by and say hello. He’s got a pair of work gloves for you and a lot of weeds in the driveway! He adds that he is blessed with 4 daughters and 3 grandkids. "
Brian Steward continues to present at lawyer conferences around his state of Texas. He appears to be an expert on "old-school" techniques, we guess that means we're all officially old-school!
Being a Duke basketball fan goes beyond what happens on the basketball court. It’s more than the record-defining wins or the heartbreaking losses. Generations have experienced the legacy associated with the sport, celebrated it in its best moments and cried in its worst. Supporting Duke basketball is a defining thread that brings people from all walks of life together.
Francis Bogside, an Irish pub in San Antonio, brought generations of Duke graduates together on Final Four weekend. Energy filled the air that only Blue Devil basketball can excite. Mothers pushed babies around in strollers while small children ran excitedly around the courtyard. Classmates who had not seen each other in years reunited all across the venue. Alumni and fans gathered around the little street corner in San Antonio to cheer on the Blue Devils in their 18th Final Four appearance.
“A lot of people think about their identity as either ‘I'm an American or I'm a woman,’” Lauren Wiggs, Trinity ‘04, said. “For me, being a Duke alumna is one of those first criteria.”
Her identity as a Duke fan has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. Wiggs’ grandparents met at Duke in the 1950s, and she got married in the Duke Chapel. Her family has spent decades cheering on men’s basketball.
She attended her first Final Four in 1986 at only four years old. Now, nearly 40 years later, it was a no-brainer that she would attend the Final Four once it became clear that Duke would play in it. Wiggs and some of her friends booked their flights as soon as the Blue Devils secured their Elite Eight victory over Alabama. She has always enjoyed watching “the decades of history” that the program carries, especially because it has so much to do with her own family history.
Iron Dukes celebrated Final Four Weekend at Francis Bogside, an Irish pub in San Antonio.
Family ties run deep for many Forever Crazies, including Rachel Flemming, a former Duke cheerleader. When it came time for Flemming, Pratt ‘12, to attend college, she followed her older brother to Duke. He joined the marching band, so she joined the cheer team. The opportunity to travel to various bowl games and other athletic events brought the siblings closer and amplified their love for Duke sports, especially basketball.
Fleming’s favorite memory came from cheering at the national championship game in 2010 when the Blue Devils, led by current head coach Jon Scheyer, defeated Butler.
“I remember sitting on the court and gripping my poms,” Flemming said. “I still get nervous watching videos of that shot. I know it’s not gonna go in, but I still remember how I felt in that moment.”
In the years since her graduation, she and her brother have continued to travel to basketball games just as they did in college, supporting Duke across the country.
“It's more than just basketball,” Flemming said. “It's the community and the camaraderie of the Duke spirit.”
Paul Knickerbocker, Pratt ‘00, has used traveling to basketball games as a way to reconnect with his former classmates.
“I just used it as a vehicle to reunite with friends and have that common thread, to share that common experience,” Knickerbocker said.
After enjoying his experience in the Final Four in Phoenix last year with fellow alumni — despite the team’s absence — Knickerbocker decided to follow the Blue Devils around this year in the hopes that the 2024-25 squad would work its way to San Antonio. Although his road experience with the Blue Devils was “hectic,” Knickerbocker enjoyed attending the alumni events in the different cities he went to and explained that supporting Duke gives him “a sense of belonging.”
“It’s something that you feel that’s bigger than yourself,” he said.
Several other alumni echoed the sentiment that for them, Duke basketball is like another home, something to support and hold onto in the good times and the bad.
“It gives you something to look forward to every year,” Brian Steward, Trinity ‘87, said. For many fans, the calendar revolves around watching Duke basketball, around watching each and every game with eager anticipation.
It doesn’t hurt that fans rarely have to watch their team suffer through long losing stretches.
“It’s nice to be part of the group,” Knickerbocker said. “And it’s part of the winning group.”
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Knickerbocker’s friend and fellow alum Noah Geisel described being a Duke basketball fan as “belonging to greatness.” He graduated in 2001, the year the team won its third national championship.
In his four years at Duke, Geisel only missed two home games at Cameron Indoor Stadium. From the beginning of this season, he knew “in his heart” that he would be traveling to San Antonio for the Final Four to support his team, just as he had in his college days.
“You don't have to be great at basketball to be a great Duke basketball fan,” Geisel said.
And for many of these alumni, that is the crux of Duke’s basketball appeal. Though most will never get the chance to play on the court of Cameron Indoor, they all have the chance to cheer loudly in the stands, to hex opposing players as they attempt to inbound the ball, to put their arms around each other and sing the alma mater with pride after every win and even each loss. Those memories leave many alumni eagerly anticipating the chance to come back for more.
“I’ll probably die early of a heart attack,” Roshan Yadama, Trinity ‘15, joked of his commitment to watching Duke basketball and the nerve-wracking emotions it induces.
Still, Yadama, like so many, counts his days spent at Cameron Indoor as among the best in his college experience. The Blue Devils earned their 2015 championship banner in Yadama’s senior year.
“It’s been elite since the beginning,” Yadama said.
This year's Final Four came a week after Yadama’s college reunion week. While back in Durham, he and his former classmates planned their trip to San Antonio, for Yadama’s first time experiencing the Final Four in person.
Other Forever Crazies are far more seasoned in their Final Four appearances.
Wilton Alston, Pratt ‘81, traveled to his first Final Four in 1999 and watched the Blue Devils lose to UConn in the championship matchup. Although the experience of watching Duke lose was “gut-wrenching,” he still found himself enjoying the weekend. From that point on, Alston and his brother have made it a yearly tradition to attend the Final Four, even when Duke does not make it. Attending over 20 Final Fours has made him appreciate even more the trips when the Blue Devils do make an appearance.
Whether alumni had attended one Final Four or the last 20, San Antonio brought up some of the best memories from their undergraduate years. Even with the loss to Houston, wherever the team goes in the coming years, these alumni will be there to support them and continue on the tradition of excellence that Duke basketball inspires.
“It’s a great thing,” Steward said. “It’s a great tradition.”
JK was attending a wonderful bar mitzvah in NYC recently - a relative on his wife's side - and at the reception he learned that another attendee's daughter was a 9th grader at Deerfield! While JK was extolling the outsized impact the Class of 1983 has on the Deerfield Magazine (especially) all agreed a photo for Class Notes was warranted. What started as being in the audience for a simple right of passage for a cousin-in-law turned into the best day ever!
Your eagle eyed blog editor noticed an under the radar update to a Facebook account. I give you - a recent photo of Jay Esty! I'm guessing Maine coast, summer 2024...
At a recent DA Reception in NYC, old buddies LtoR: John Kikoski, Whit Armstrong, Jon Gottscho and Doug Schmidt caught up and represented our great class. Jon even wore the Class tie, a true collectors item!
David Ziccardi retired from his Associate General Counsel position at Conrail a while back, but has clearly found a new lease on life as a volunteer at MANNA. Congratulations on your Volunteer of the Month recognition!
"I’m thrilled to share that I have once again been chosen as a DBT222 Honoree. This recognition is not just a personal milestone but a reflection of the incredible team that supports me and the opportunities I’ve been blessed with in our thriving Delaware community.
I’m deeply grateful to my colleagues, mentors, and everyone who has played a role in this achievement. This honor fuels my passion to create an even greater impact in our community. Here’s to continuing this journey of growth and excellence together!"
Chaz Gagne was in Georgia for a meeting in Augusta and came back through Atlanta where we were able to catch up over dinner. What a blast! Cherish these moments! Realized our friendship is still going strong after 44 years! All the best!! - Hardie Jackson
“To celebrate and honor our vets for their patriotism, love of country, willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.”
It’s a special honor to be able to share my thoughts on Veterans
Day. Notwithstanding my lifelong connection to military service
through my family and work, it still feels awkward to do so as a
civilian. And yet, when you consider the meaning of Veterans Day (and Memorial Day for that matter), perhaps it is indeed fitting.
There are distinct differences between these two consequential holidays of remembrance of our servicemen and women.
Memorial Day is perhaps the more complicated of the two. It is a
somber occasion meant to encourage us to reflect on those who have
given their lives in the service of this country. That is why at commu-
nity gatherings on that day, the names of each local life lost in the line of duty is recited. (I honestly don’t know
if the names of vets lost to suicide are also
read, but they should be, as they are also
casualties of war.)
And yet Memorial Day weekend remains one of my favorites. For many, it's an opportunity to set aside the challenges of life and immerse ourselves in people and things we love. And
maybe that’s okay. Maybe that ability to forget, to lose ourselves in
a festive weekend is simply proof of the value and purity of the gift
of those servicemen and women who died for our cause.... And yet
that ability, that freedom to be able to forget is precisely why it’s so
important that we remember.
Veterans Day also commemorates our veterans but in a very different way.
Indeed the origin of this less widely observed holiday was conceived
that way. Originally designated “Armistice Day,” it marked the end of
World War I, a seemingly interminable, horrifically costly and some
say avoidable protracted conflict. When legally renamed Veterans Day
by President Ford in 1978, a broader meaning took hold: “To celebrate and honor our vets for their patriotism, love of country, willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.” (VA.gov).
Growing up, my parents took every opportunity to remind me not
only of the profound importance of thanking our servicemen and
women, but also the often misunderstood notion that we celebrate
not just the combat vets who spent time directly in harm's way, but
ANY AND ALL veterans – meaning plainly, anyone who ever took the
oath and wore the uniform. A large minority of actively serving men
and women are at home and doing all the things that must be done to
make an army work. Even the great General Patton knew that - and it
crept into his standard stump speech to troops in the field.
“Every man is important. The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns; the quartermaster is needed to bring up the food and
clothes for us because where we are going
there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last
damn man in the mess hall, even the one
who boils the water to keep us from getting the GI shits, has a job to do.”
There is no way we as a nation can ever
adequately thank our veterans and their
families for the sacrifices they have made in the service of this country. Veterans Day and Memorial Day, along with Independence Day,
Flag Day, Armed Forces Day and others, are important times for us
to stop and take a moment to reflect on that sacrifice. But always remember that these are not the only days we are meant to consider our
millions of valiant servicemen and women. NO, not by a long shot.
These handful of days are merely signposts, reminders if you will,
that we need to think about and support these courageous Americans
and the families that support them every day. EVERY DAY. They did their job, and now this is ours.
So this Veterans Day, go to a parade. Buy an American flag. Look a veteran in the eye and shake their hand. Introduce yourself to a military family. Ask a question. As my wife often tells me, be interested,
not interesting. Above all, mean it. They will know it if you don’t, and
you will feel it if you do.
From the GENERAL PRINCIPLES section of the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of Veterans Life magazine.
Doug Schmidt was able to catch two of the busiest people in our class for a celebratory dinner on the Upper West side in Manhattan - Chris Flagg and PB Weymouth. Chris is doing real estate deals and PB is working on private and public deals in defense, technology, and other sectors. Their kids are launched except for PB’s youngest who is at Yale. Doug adds, "We celebrated a milestone in my business that may be announced in coming weeks. If anyone is coming through NYC, please drop in to say hello!"
While in Dallas meeting up with a bunch of immunologists recently, I was able to take a break and catch up with Jon Bernstein - it has been 25+ years?! John is the big boss at American Airlines cargo & has traveled the world over the last 28 years with AA and his 3 kids and wife. Super fun to catch up and hear all the stories…! - Doug
You may have received an email from Head of School Dr. John Austin recently or seen an article in the WSJ. Deerfield has announced that families earning below $150,000 will pay $0 in tuition or fees starting with the 2025-2026 school year.
That's what you can do when your endowment is large enough. ALL contributions to Deerfield in the past have helped lead to this moment.
Here is the email :
Dear Deerfield Alumni,
In the early 20th century, our legendary Headmaster Frank L. Boyden asked families to "pay what you can," establishing one of the first need-based financial aid programs in the United States. Today, we seek to build on that pioneering commitment.
Beginning in this admission cycle, and for our returning families in the 2025 - 26 school year, all qualifying domestic families with income below $150,000 will pay $0 in tuition and fees to attend the Academy. Families with incomes above the $150,000 threshold will pay no more than 10% of their verified income for tuition and fees.
Deerfield’s commitment to affordability and access in the form of need-based financial aid is historic, deep, and central to its educational mission. It is our hope that this new initiative will increase access to Deerfield for families of all income levels, expand opportunity, and allow the Academy to continue to attract and enroll young men and women of promise—regardless of means.
Should you have any questions regarding the new initiative or financial aid in general, please do not hesitate to reach out to Chief Advancement Officer Chuck Ramsay '88 or to me. Thank you, as always, for supporting Deerfield.
Chris Lynch reports from the recently concluded US Open tennis championship: "Had a great visit from Johannes, Angelique and Sebastian Mortier to NYC. We had two days at the US Open to watch some amazing tennis."
Be sure to check out Doug's commentaries at his Hark Capital website where they explain the uses of NAV loans. If you have a clue what that means...read on!!!
The latest Deerfield magazine is landing in mailboxes and it features another two page spread on the great Class of 1983! Well done all! Keep the stories / birthdays coming...
And did you catch the ski story in the class of '77 section with the photo sent in by Adam Feiges?????
John Cianciolo and John Knight hosted Jim Wareck for lunch at Matunuck Oyster Bar on the south coast of Rhode Island to wish Jim well as he heads back to Boise State in Idaho to teach in the fall term. Local oysters were enjoyed and hopes and dreams were shared, all with an undertone of hilarity.
The universe is calling… ran into Whit Armstrong and we were able to grab dinner and catch up during quite a torrential downpour on the Upper West Side. When not chasing after his 9 yr old boy, Whit is back spending his days sketching with charcoal and graphite - impressive work if one is looking for art to adorn any walls. We reminisced (and had a few chuckles) about Tim Engelland and Hodo. Good times. - Doug
