Marv McEldowney passed away last Friday, October 14, 2022. The following is copied from a spotlight we included in a previous newsletter. It is being posted one more time in remembrance of his service to the right of way community.
Marvin McEldowney and his wife, Marilyn, met at a Fourth of July celebration in 1961. At the time, Marvin was employed as an appraiser at the Linn County Assessor’s Office. He worked there for more than six years before moving on to the Oregon Department of Transportation (Region I R/W office in Milwaukie), where he would serve in several positions, including Region Appraiser, Acquisition Agent, Liaison Agent, and R/W Cost Estimator. Marvin and Marilyn live in Milwaukie and just marked their 50th wedding anniversary this past August.
Marvin is a Certified General Appraiser and a Principal Real Estate Broker in the State of Oregon. After retiring from his ROW career with ODOT in 1989, he joined with another former ODOT Right-of-Way Agent, Roger Hanna, to form Hanna McEldowney and Associates (HMA), a full service right-of-way firm. Marvin has been involved with HMA as an Appraiser and as Acquisition, Relocation, and Liaison Agent and remains active with the firm, mostly consulting, reviewing appraisals, and, occasionally, appraising. He is a member of the IRWA Beaver State Chapter 3 and is a Past President.
In Marvin’s long career in Right of Way, there was an oft-repeated phrase in his ODOT days that serves as a testament to his skills in acquiring right-of-way for a public agency, “If Marvin can’t buy it, no one can.” He has been involved in a variety of interesting projects, including appraisals for the Banks-Vernonia Trail, the Hood River Apple Growers Association’s large, obsolete, multi-story, sawdust-insulated cold storage warehouse—the last of its kind in Oregon—and Portland General Electric’s private road right-of-way above Estacada, all of which were acquired by ODOT.
The McEldowneys have three children. The oldest, Dan, lives with his wife and daughter in Colorado, where he is District Manager for Lowes for the Northern Colorado/Southern Wyoming region. Daughter, Lori, was an Editor for the Oregon Historical Society and now assists her husband, a builder, with his business, in addition to doing freelance and volunteer work, and providing administrative support to HMA. They have two sons and live in southwest Portland. Marvin and Marilyn’s youngest, David, followed his father into the Right-of-Way business, starting as a negotiator and appraiser with HMA. He then became a self-employed appraiser and later worked as a Right-of-Way Agent for ODOT. David is now Right-of-Way Acquisition Supervisor for the City of Portland and lives with his son in Tigard.
When he is not consulting for HMA, traveling, or snow-birding in Indio, California, Marvin keeps active managing the couple’s rental units, as well as with hobbies including dancing, antique autos (he has a 1913 Maxwell touring car and a seven-passenger 1928 Pierce Arrow sedan), the Milwaukie Elks Lodge, and an RV travel club.
Marvin is pleased with his 50 years of appraising and right-of-way work, happy with his 50 years of marriage, and is proud of his children’s success in their chosen careers.
