OKC loses a true community builder
By: J. David Chapman/March 4, 2021
OKC lost a giant last week – Mark Ruffin.
I reached out to Zach Martin of Adept for a brief tribute to Mark. The following are Zach’s comments: Last Saturday, my mentor, friend, and hero, Mark Ruffin, passed away at the age of 58 (COVID-19). Mark is survived by his wife, Manda, and four children. Looking back, we never had a conversation where he didn’t bring up his amazing family. He was active in his local church, had an abundance of friends and a played a mean game of ping-pong.
Mark was the best real estate operator I have ever known. Mark started his career acquiring single-family homes near NW 26th and Western. He went on to own apartments, office buildings in the urban core, to develop a sprawling 80-acre office and industrial park at NE 122nd and Kelley (Market Square) and to build numerous industrial buildings near Will Rogers Airport.
When I was in my 20s, I bought a rental house at NW 26th and Western. The old-timers on the block were always telling me about some guy named Mark that once owned that same house. They spoke of how Mark bought up the whole street and then began developing property all over the city. Wanting to learn more, I reached out to Mark. To my surprise, he graciously took my call and invited me to lunch, and so it began…
Despite already having loads of responsibility, Mark always made time to mentor me. Mark and I would spend hours at his office, sleeves rolled up, poring over construction drawings. I marveled at how he could identify and correct an obscure mistake buried on Page 82 of the plan set. Don’t let the sports coat fool you; guys like Mark are part plumber, electrician, architect, engineer, appraiser, and handyman. Best of all, in spite of the fact that he owned the building in which his company was located, he didn’t really have an office for himself. He just had a worn-out chair pulled up next to the ping-pong table.
As I prepared to write this, I began reaching out to my peers who knew Mark well. I quickly realized that I wasn’t the only person Mark had been mentoring. Mark spent his life building our community and investing in others. Thank you, Mark, for all the life-lessons and thank you for all the ping-pong.
J. David Chapman is an associate professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).