Weiss raises the bar in defining city brokerage

Real Estate Weekly,  Sept 21, 2005  by Daniel Geiger

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Recruited from Studley to become an executive vice president at Newmark in the summer of 2002, Mark S. Weiss has quickly earned himself the nickname the "advocate's advocate" for his prolific work finding space for law firms.

Little did he know that, soon after his appointment, he would become an advocate for more than just his clients.

Less than six months after Weiss started at Newmark, his wife Cathy was diagnosed with breast cancer after a lump was discovered during a routine mammography. When the initial shock subsided, Weiss was intensely gripped with the natural conviction that only the best and most quickly administered care would suffice. He mobilized, learning as much as could about the disease while sifting through the myriad of treatment options and doctors.

"This was big stuff and I knew from the moment I found out that I had to throw everything that I had into it," Weiss said. "My emotional energy became focused on the right treatments, the right doctors, and making sure that everything got done. I became a virtual medical encyclopedia about the subject."

But as Weiss read book after book on the subject, to educate himself on cancer and make sure that he was pursuing the best path towards a cure for his wife, he began to notice there were few resources that addressed his situation specifically. It wasn't just that Weiss couldn't find a book that provided insight on how a spouse could best support their partner during their battle with cancer. Weiss could find little to guide him on how to cope with the stress and emotional turmoil that he himself was experiencing from trying to balance both the effort of quarterbacking his wife's treatment and his many other responsibilities, such as work and taking care of the couple's two young children.

So Weiss decided to write one.

"There was nothing out there from the guy's perspective," Weiss said. "No caregiver's guide for someone like me. I was going to help others by writing the definitive book, and that's what I did. It talks about how to deal with giving the best care possible while also balancing your work responsibilities, how to separate the stresses of home and work, how to talk to your kids about it and provide them with support. It also explains all the treatment options you have for breast cancer, complete with the financial considerations."

His book, entitled "When Your Wife Has Breast Cancer" will be published in February of 2006 and Weiss is confident its information will benefit many. To make sure the book wasn't too specific to his own situation, Weiss interviewed other spouses who went through similar cancer ordeals.

The Weiss's own battle fortunately came to a happy conclusion when Cathy was declared cancer free, hopefully for good, after months of grueling chemotherapy.

"With cancer, you never know if you really beat it because it can always come back," Weiss said. "But so far we've dealt with it."

Although Weiss's focus during the many months after his wife's diagnosis was on her treatment and recovery, he still managed to be a leading broker at Newmark and even gained entry and completed the prestigious David Rockefeller Fellows Program. The 11-month program, which admits only 17 high level executives a year and from which Weiss graduated just last week, exposes participants to key leaders and issues in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors of the city and details the important relationship between government and business that exists in the city and makes it such a successful and unique place.

The group of participants met with some of the city's top executives, such as Kenneth Chenault, the CEO of American Express; Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of the Blackstone Group; and David Komansky, the CEO of Merrill Lynch.

"When you have guys like that speaking, you're going to learn a lot," Weiss said. "When Steve Schwarzman explains how to take risks yet do it responsibly and in a calculated manner, it's an unbelievable learning experience. Rudy Giuliani sat down with us for two hours and spoke about team building. It was a once in a lifetime kind of experience."

While Weiss's success as a broker isn't likely to take him from the ranks of the private sector anytime soon, his natural drive to inform and help others combined with the understanding and insight he gained on government through his participation may eventually lead him to work as a public servant, he hinted.

"I gained such a perspective on leadership and management and how our city works, my respect for our government leaders is so much higher," Weiss said.

"I got to realize what it takes to keep even seemingly little things, like the streetlights running and the sidewalks clean, those things that we take for granted."

"I didn't have aspiration to work for government, but now I do. In a perfect world, I would like to accomplish what I want to do in business and then go on to serve the city. It's a wonderful place that truly takes care of itself, it's a self sufficient place.