Robert Selleck was developer, father of actor By David Pierson LOS ANGELES TIMES LOS ANGELES - Robert D. Selleck, a well-known Los Angeles real estate developer who also was the father of actor Tom Selleck, has died. He was 79. Selleck died Wednesday from complications during surgery at the University of Southern California Medical Center. Selleck, born in Lapeer, Mich., attended Ohio Wesleyan University and served in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He left Detroit in 1948 for Van Nuys, a Los Angeles area community predominantly agricultural that was just beginning to sprout suburban communities. Selleck was offered a job with Coldwell Banker that offered no salary and no weekly guarantee against future sales. He made his earnings solely on commission. "It was a little adventurous; you've got to be young to do that," Selleck told the Los Angeles Times in a 1996 interview. But his success eventually landed him the post of senior vice president and director of corporate communications for Coldwell Banker Commercial Group. He later established Selleck Co. for Real Estate Development and Consultation. He served as director of the Los Angeles Olympic Organization Committee. commissioner and president of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, commissioner and president of the Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Parks Commission and director and vice president of Valley Presbyterian Hospital. He also participated on the Southern California Committee for the 1984 Olympic Games. In addition to his wife and actor son, Selleck is survived by two other sons, Robert D. Selleck II and Daniel Fife Selleck: a daughter, Martha Selleck Ketchum: 14 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren.
