A strong belief in social justice and ethical behavior prompted Edward E. Kellman, a Chicago industrial real-estate broker, to become founding president of the Association of Industrial Real Estate Brokers. Mr. Kellman, 88, died of complications of a stroke Saturday, Feb. 7, in St. Francis Hospital, Evanston. Born in Detroit, Mr. Kellman graduated from Highland Park High School in Michigan. He excelled in sports and was a champion wrestler and amateur boxer at the University of Michigan, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in pre-medicine in 1937. He was chairman of the university’s Graduate Luncheon Club during his continued studies in education. He taught at a high school in Au Gres, Mich., and coached basketball from 1939 to 1941 before enlisting in the Army. During World War II, he participated in the invasion of Normandy and was in the first group of Americans to enter Paris. He met Sarah Markham while stationed in England, and they married in 1945. Shortly after returning to the United States, the couple settled in Chicago. Mr. Kellman entered the industrial real-estate brokerage business and started Edward E. Kellman & Co. in 1955. An advocate for social justice, Mr. Kellman helped found the Association of Industrial Real Estate Brokers in 1956 to foster a higher standard of business ethics and conduct for brokers. “He had a very strong social conscience,” said his daughter, Sally Kellman Schinzinger. “It was in his nature. He had a general interest and belief in social justice and ethical behavior.” Mr. Kellman also was a longtime member of the American Humanist Association, the Chicago Ethical Society and the High Ridge Toastmasters Club. Family members described Mr. Kellman as a quiet and modest man devoted to his family. Other survivors include a son, Jeffrey, and a brother, Martin. Plans for a memorial service are pending.
