(216) 447-4477

Lucius B. McKelvey

Chairman of the Board, Smythe Cramer Co. dba Howard Hanna Real Estate Services

Lucius B. McKelvey has been involved in all aspects of marketing real property since joining Smythe, Cramer Co as a REALTOR® in 1967. Two years later, he was named a branch manager, and in 1971 became general manager. Mr. McKelvey was named executive vice president in 1973 and became president and majority owner in 1979. In 1999, he became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

In 1990, for his outstanding dedication and commitment to equal opportunity housing, he received the prestigious J. Howard Battle Award, named for the Cleveland Area Board of REALTORS’® first black member. In 1982, Mr. McKelvey earned the Cuyahoga Plan’s Affirmative Action in Real Estate Award for his efforts in support of open housing. The following year, he joined the newly created Greater Cleveland Community Housing Resource Board, formed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

He has been recognized nationally for Smythe, Cramer’s award-winning “Take Another Look” advertising campaign of the 1980s, which created a positive image of Cleveland after the city received years of negative publicity. The company’s television home show was the first in northeastern Ohio and one of the first in the nation.

Under his direction, the company gained recognition as one of the developers of the first downtown housing in Cleveland in 60 years, at Riverbend, in the mid-1980s.

In the late 1980s, Smythe Cramer became the first real estate company to survey clients about the services they received. In 1995, Home Mortgage Assured Corporation was created as a subsidiary to provide convenient financial service for homebuyers.

Shortly after joining the company, he was instrumental in developing one of Ohio’s first computer systems for the real estate industry. In 1995, under his tutelage, Smythe, Cramer created a training center to help Smythe, Cramer REALTORS® better serve clients through computer technology. Three years later, Virtual Tours of Smythe, Cramer listings were available through the company’s Internet site, and in 2003, listings from virtually every real estate company in northeastern Ohio could be found on smythecramer.com.

In May of 2003, L.B. McKelvey merged Smythe, Cramer Co. with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, a Pittsburgh-based real estate company, creating the 5th largest residential real estate company in the United States.