‘The Godfather of real estate’: Vale Brian Geaney

“We had just given him a tribute for nearly 50 years of service to the local real estate industry... He was a beautiful man with a kind heart, and he taught us a lot.”

Rockhampton real estate icon Brian Geaney is being remembered as “The Godfather of real estate” following his sudden passing on Tuesday morning.

Mr Geaney, 67, who worked as senior commercial salesperson and property consultant at Mr Real Estate Rockhampton, died just weeks after a cancer diagnosis.

“We had just given him a tribute for nearly 50 years of service to the local real estate industry,” Mr Real Estate Rockhampton principal Jason Rayner said.

“He was about a month off 50 years.

“So the day he was meant to retire, that’s when he fell ill.”

Mr Rayner said Mr Geaney had served his entire career in the local real estate industry.

“He first worked with his father and then he moved on to open his own business which was very successful,” Mr Rayner said.

“He was a beautiful man with a kind heart, and he taught us a lot.

“His best attribute was that he was kind - he went out of his way to service the people of Rockhampton and he was caring about every single soul he met.

“So every customer, he would bend over backwards to offer that extra bit of care, and he taught us well.”

Mr Rayner purchased Mr Geaney’s business, Brian Geaney Real Estate, off him about two-and-a-half years ago.

“He helped us secure the business and he said ‘I’ll sell you the business if you keep me employed because I love working’.

“So we not only bought the business but we kept him on - it was really nice.

“I must emphasise, he loved work.

“He used to say that work was like a hobby.

“He just loved coming in - he just loved the people.

“He taught a lot of our team things.

“We just couldn’t believe what he’d learnt in his career.

“He was a mentor to us and the young staff in our office - they looked up to him like The Godfather of real estate.

“He used to say ‘it’s a people business, look after the customer, look after your workers, and you’ll have a great business, and that’s what he taught us’.”

Mr Rayner said even after Mr Geaney was diagnosed with cancer he remained committed to his love of real estate.

“Even when he was up in hospital there at the start, he was still negotiating on his hospital bed.

“I said ‘maybe we shouldn’t be doing this Brian’.

“But he insisted that he should.

“He loved it - he never had a resentful bone in his body.

“And he was proud of his children and his grandchildren - he used to talk about them all the time.

“He used to say ‘when I retire I’m going to go see the kids, travel around,’ but he never got that opportunity unfortunately.”

Mr Rayner said Mr Geaney’s funeral service would be held on August 9 at St Joseph’s Cathedral at 10am.