Real estate legend Fred Sands died at 77 on Friday. His death is sudden while he suffered stroke in his travel to Boston. Sands is survived by his wife Carla, son Jonathan, daughter Alexandra, and brother William.

Fred C. Sands is remembered not just as the founder of Fred Sands Realtors and Vintage Capital Group but also a legend in the real estate industry, says L.A Business Journal. According to the report, Sands started his brokerage business "from an office in Brentwood the size of a two-car garage." Then, his firm climbed the ladder of success until it became "second-largest real estate and financial services firm in California and the seventh-largest in the country." However, he sold his business to Coldwell Banker, "the same firm where he started his 30 year career in real estate," in 2000 for over $100 million.

CP Executive recalls a brief biography of Fred C. Sands. He was born on Feb. 16, 1938 in New York City. His family moved to Los Angeles, California when he was still 7 year old. He attended high school in Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights. Then, "he found his vocation studying real estate and business administration at UCLA. In 1968 he became Coldwell Banker's top-producing real estate agent after posting a phenomenal record of residential real estate sales." Today, he was considered as an icon in the real estate business, having an impressive track records in the industry.

L.A. Times notes that Fred Sands was also dubbed as "the king of high-end L.A real estate." This is because his name was affixed in every real estate signage all over Los Angeles wealthy neighborhoods, prior to shifting "his focus to turning around distressed shopping centers."

Sands saw that there's money in reconstructing and "rebranding ailing shopping centers." He started to buy "distressed malls through an arm of Vintage Capital Group, which he headed." Aside from rehabilitating distressed shopping centers, his firm also made investments "in midsize companies that appeared poised to grow."

Fred C. Sands, an accomplished business man and is considered an icon in real estate industry, passed away on Friday after he suffered stroke in Boston.

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