Ebby Halliday Acers, founder of Ebby Halliday, REALTORS®, the largest independently-owned residential real estate services company in Texas, died on September 8, 2015. Halliday, a pioneer for women in the industry, was 104.
“While we grieve the loss of Ebby, our legendary founder and my friend and mentor for over 50 years, we celebrate a long life well-lived,” said Mary Frances Burleson, president and CEO of The Ebby Halliday Companies, in a statement. “Each of us who had the good fortune of knowing Ebby has been touched by the grace, fortitude and compassion with which she lived her life. Ebby had a very simple saying that she lived by: ‘Do something for someone every day.’ That small bit of wisdom served Ebby very, very well.”
Born Vera Lucille Koch on March 9, 1911 in Leslie Ark., Halliday exhibited a strong work ethic at a young age, and a sales sensibility to match. She founded Ebby Halliday, REALTORS® in 1945, following a successful stint operating her own hat boutique.
Halliday married Maurice Acers on April 18, 1965, an event she often referred to as her most successful “sale,” colleagues say. She did not have children.
Throughout her storied career, Halliday was the recipient of numerous accolades, most notably becoming a member of The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. She was the first to receive the Executive Women International’s Executive Excellence Award, and was recognized with the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of REALTORS® and the International Real Estate Federation, the Regional Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young, and the YWCA’s 100 Women 100 Years Award. She is an inductee into both the Texas Business Hall of Fame and the Dallas Business Hall of Fame.
An active volunteer within her community, Halliday served on the boards of the Better Business Bureau, the St. Paul Medical Foundation, the Communities Foundation of Texas and the Thanksgiving Square Foundation, among others. She was president of the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Dallas Planning Council, and the Dallas Park and Recreation Board. In addition, she was involved with the Alexis de Tocqueville Society for United Way, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Guild and the State Fair of Texas.
In 2014, the YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas named the new YW Women’s Center Ebby’s Place, and Juliette Fowler Communities announced The Ebby House, a transitional community for young women who have aged out of foster care.
Since its inception, Ebby Halliday, REALTORS® has grown to 1,700 sales associates serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The firm ranked in the top 10 nationwide for sales volume in RISMedia’s 2015 Power Broker Report, totaling upwards of $6.6 billion in sales in 2014.
