Ebby Halliday Dies at 104

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We’ll miss you, Ebby.

We are very sorry to share that Ebby Halliday Acers, local dynamo of real estate, has died at age 104.

Born in 1911, Halliday first came to Dallas in 1938. Though she first started in the hat business, oilman Clint Murchison told her, “If you can sell those crazy hats to my wife, maybe you can sell my crazy houses,” according to the Ebby website.

She founded Ebby Halliday Realtors in 1945 and married Maurice Acers in 1965. Today, her company is the largest independently owned residential real estate company in the state and the 10th in the country, which encompasses 1,700 sales associates.

Much of Halliday’s legacy lies in the philanthropic sphere; last year, the YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas opened Ebby’s Place, a home for the YWCA’s women center, and Juliette Fowler Communities announced The Ebby House, a community for women who have aged out of foster care.

She served as the president of Thanksgiving Square Foundation and served on the boards of many organizations including the Communities Foundation of Texas and the Better Business Bureau. She was also involved in the Alexis de Tocqueville Society for United Way, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Guild, the State Fair of Texas, and the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, among other organizations.

She received many awards including the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Realtors and the International Real Estate Federation and was incited to the Texas Business Hall of Hame and the Dallas Business Hall of Fame. She has been recognized by Ernst & Young and the YWCA, among other groups.

“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,” says Mary Frances Burleson, president and CEO of The Ebby Halliday Companies. “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.”

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Ebby’s Place, The Ebby House, Happy Hill Farm and Academy, or another charity of choice. Memorial-service arrangements are forthcoming.

Do you have special memories of this special lady? Share them with us at [email protected].

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