His firm created two of the first enclosed malls in the eastern United States.
L. William "Bill" EaganWalk into any major mall or shopping center in Central New York and, whether you realize it or not, you'll experience the influence of L. William Eagan.
Eagan, of Cazenovia, died Sunday. He was 92. (obituary)
"Bill was the last-standing Eagan -- and that was a legendary company in town," said John Osta, himself a real estate giant now with RealtyUSA. "His father was Leo and his uncle was Edward, and Bill was always in the business. He had a very nice reputation."
Others agree.
"At one time, Eagan Real Estate was the powerful real estate company in the county," said John F. Havemeyer III, of Syracuse-based Appraisal Research Inc., a commercial real estate appraisal firm. "They ruled the Syracuse area and were very influential in bringing MONY to Central New York."
Mutual of New York -- MONY -- is the company that occupied for many years the MONY Towers, now the AXA Towers.
In the 1950s, '60s, '70s and beyond, the Eagan power and the towers beckoned families and companies to Central New York.
The Eagans created two of the first fully enclosed shopping centers -- or malls -- in the eastern United States when the company enclosed its Fairmount Fair and ShoppingTown malls.
The post-World War II residential flight to the suburbs meant a need for shopping centers, and the Eagans, including Bill Eagan, created ShoppingTown in 1954 as an open-air or strip center. In 1972, they enclosed it.
In the ensuing years, suburban Syracuse shoppers saw other Eagan centers rise: Fairmount Fair, built in 1959 in Camillus, and Penn Can Mall, built in Cicero in 1976.
Thomas C. Wilmot Sr., an aspiring developer in the early 1970s, built malls to compete with the Eagans in Onondaga County: Camillus Mall near Eagan's Fairmount Fair, Fayetteville Mall near ShoppingTown and Great Northern Mall near Penn Can Mall.
But Rochester-based Wilmorite, the Wilmot family empire, also went into partnership with Eagan on some Eagan malls.
"When I first started working back around 1970, Eagan Real Estate just dominated Syracuse, both in brokerage and commercial," Wilmot said. "All of the developers in Central New York over the last 40 years were kind of trained in the Eagan camp," he said.
That would include Michael J. Falcone of Pioneer Development and many executives of The Pyramid Cos., builder and owner of Carousel Center mall and other shopping centers.
Bill Eagan's influence was profound, said Wilmot, who worked directly with Bill Eagan to buy the Eagan-owned shopping centers in 1989.
"Bill was the lead negotiator," said Wilmot. "He was very much a gentleman, very soft spoken, very polite."
Osta worked with Bill Eagan when the family got out of the residential real estate business. Gallinger/GMAC Real Estate, where Osta was a top executive, acquired Eagan's residential real estate business in 1999. Gallinger/GMAC was bought by RealtyUSA five years ago.
"He did a nice job of carrying on the Eagan name even after the company was sold," said Osta.
And like the rest of the Eagan family, Bill Eagan gave back to the community, said Mary Claire Codd, who worked for Eagan Real Estate and later, the John Lynch Co., in the 1980s.
"It was a wonderful experience," said Codd, who is active in commercial real estate in Florida, where she is director of office and industrial services for Colliers International. "They were very big with charities, very instrumental to the community.
"What's so great about their malls is they kept the smaller retailers that were based in Syracuse, which made their malls different from other mall developers. They were part of the community. They were a nice company and taught me well."
Bill Eagan's funeral is 11 a.m. Friday in St. James Church in Cazenovia. Calling hours are 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the church.