Michael Raymond Dunn  (IABE ’85)
June 10, 1963 – July 27, 2015
 
Michael Raymond “Mike” Dunn (IABE ’85), one of the re-founding brothers of the Iowa Beta chapter in 1982 who went on to become a successful commercial real estate financier, entered the Chapter Eternal on July 27, 2015. He died from a short bout with lung cancer at the age of 52 in Shawnee, KS.
 
Dunn was born June 10, 1963 in Des Moines. He was the elder of two boys and graduated from Johnston High School in 1981, where he competed on the wrestling team. He attended the University of Iowa, where he studied finance and business.
 
In the late fall of 1982, Dunn pledged the Iowa Beta chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon as a re-founding member, after Iowa Beta had dwindled away in the late 1970s. He was initiated into the fraternity during the Chapter’s reinstallation on February 5, 1983 and received SAE badge number 187261.

"Mike was a very close friend of mine," said Greg Miller (IABE '86), Director and Chairman, Communications of the Iowa Beta Alumni Association. "We met at orientation and instantly bonded. We both agreed that our time at Iowa was going to be very short and we both wanted to squeeze every possible experience out of it that we could. We were inseparable our freshman year. We organized a lot of parties.

"Mike was smooth as glass," Miller said. "He had a fresh leather Cowboy edge to him and was very popular. If there was a party going on, you could find him dead center in the middle of it. He always dressed sharp, drove a stylish car and had a knockout girl on his side. It seemed like he was one step ahead of everyone else. He brought a lot of class to the boys in The Lodge." 
 
After graduating from Iowa in 1985, Dunn became a Commercial Construction Loan officer at Pioneer Savings bank and first began his interest in commercial real estate. Almost five years later, he became a vice president at Charter American Mortgage in Kansas City, where focused his career in debt and equity placement.  He then became vice president at Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, where he would spend the next 24 years providing real estate developers and owners with debt restructuring and equity opportunities.
 
In July 2013, Dunn started his own firm, Commercial Real Estate Funding LLC, specializing in the financing of top quality commercial real estate for sophisticated and entrepreneurial commercial real estate developers and owners.
 
Joe Evans (IABE '86), transferred to Iowa Beta from Drake in 1982 and was in Dunn's pledge class that re-established SAE back on campus.

"Mike had a compassionate personality, a quick wit and was always up for helping friends and brothers out," said Evans. "He was one of the first in line to meet new pledges and share the merits of our fraternity: a hero brother that will be sorely missed."
 
Dunn married Kim Lyn Hanks, of Shawnee, KS, and the couple had three daughters. She preceded him in death on November 29, 2014 after an eight-year battle with cancer. Dunn learned of his own cancer in February.

"I am truly saddened by the passing of Brother Mike Dunn," said Marc Rosenow (IABE '86), president of the Iowa Beta Alumni Association. "He was a really good guy, very smart, had a low-key style, and was always a straight shooter. Without question, he was a True Gentleman. On behalf of all Iowa Beta alumni, we send our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Mike Dunn will be greatly missed.” 
 
Dunn loved hunting and guns and was a devoted father. He is survived by his three young daughters, Taylor, Megan and Ginny; and his brother, David.