Alan Crittenden, who founded the Crittenden Report and related real estate conferences, passed away May 7 from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease at his home in San Diego. He was 81.
In 1972, Crittenden founded the Crittenden Report, a newsletter that covers commercial real estate financing. It was originally a marketing tool designed to support his growing mortgage brokerage business. However, he quickly found that subscribers were willing to pay for the newsletter and focused his business full-time on publishing.
It was one of the first news sources to include finance terms and to report on trends in CRE financing. Crittenden said that many banks and lenders were surprised at the time that someone would make public such information.
The Crittenden Report was an immediate success and the company expanded into other markets, including multifamily housing, retail, franchising, and insurance. Crittenden started his first conference, Meet the Lenders, in 1979.
At one point, the company had more than 120 employees with offices in Novato, San Juan Capistrano and San Diego, Calif. He expanded into golf in 1989 with the launch of a golf development conference and founded a magazine, Golf Inc., to support the conference in 1991.
Alan retired and sold his company to his son, Jack, in October 2020 and retired. The company still publishes the Crittenden Report and a retail tenants newsletter and hosts a medical liability insurance conference and two real estate conferences.
Alan was born in Washington, D.C. in 1943 while his father, Phillip, was stationed at the Pentagon. He was raised in San Diego, graduated from University of California Berkeley, and earned his law degree from University of San Diego School of Law.
Alan is survived by his wife of 60 years, Diane; two sons, Ted and Jack; a daughter, Carmina Caballes; and nine grandchildren.
