As I continue to explore my late father’s career and professional presence in Detroit, I find that each conversation brings up unique insights and memories, but there are common themes through every interview. The word love comes up a lot. A term I associate very closely with my father, but normally one doesn’t find the words “love” or “loving” in the same sentence as “real estate developer”. Along with love, the expression “it was never about Colin” has come up more than once in my conversations with his former colleagues and friends. My dad was developing properties and building lofts in the city, but it was always for the people, never his own bank account. “All he was selling was love”.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bob Riney, the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Henry Ford Health System. Bob was a longtime friend of my dad’s, they met during their fellowship with Leadership Detroit. Meeting Bob for the first time in his office a few weeks ago, he welcomed me warmly and immediately identified the features and mannerisms imitating my parents’.

We quickly got to talking about my dad and Bob’s friendship, their mutual love and commitment to the city, and how Colin’s personality truly made him one of a kind. Bob stated that Colin defied the stereotype of a developer, saying, “he understood business, but he used that knowledge to create a community in the city that he loved.” He reminisced about Colin’s ability to “call bullshit, bullshit”, but say it with a smile. With that smile he usually offered some insight or resources to support his opinion and challenge that other person’s to expand and open their mind. Bob says Colin was kind of “street” in that way, how he would call it like he saw it. He really had only one thing to be, and that was him.

Bob also spoke about the years in which my dad was suffering from cancer. He recognized how angry my dad was about his diagnosis back in 2004. But also, that Colin worked until he absolutely couldn’t work anymore. He was planting seeds within the community until the day he passed away, he continued to challenge people to think differently about Detroit until he took his last breath. He didn’t feel that his journey was over, so he continued to work so his legacy would outlive his lifetime.

It is with great honor that I strive to embody the strengths of my father — his lovingness towards all people, his ability to speak his mind and challenge others intelligently, and his perseverance and strength through times of great turmoil.