Pioneering real estate researcher Raymond Torto passed away April 7 at his home in Marblehead, MA. He was 82. 

Torto began his career in the late 1960s as a professor of economics at Salem State College and in 1970, began teaching at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. During his 24-year tenure at UMass, he was appointed the department chairman and director of the Public Policy Institute.  

In 1982, Torto partnered with Bill Wheaton of MIT to launch Torto Wheaton Research (TWR), a commercial real estate research firm. TWR was among the first to bring data analysis and econometrics to the real estate industry, paving the way for increased institutional capital. Torto was a co-recipient, with Wheaton, of the 2007 James A. Graaskamp Award for Real Estate Research Excellence.  

TWR was acquired by CBRE in 2009 and continues its mission today as CBRE Econometric Advisors. Torto later became the global chief economist for CBRE and served as treasurer, vice chairman and chairman of the Pension Real Estate Association and as a director of the PREA board.  

Torto’s colleague at CBRE, global client strategist and  senior economic advisor Spencer Levy, posted a remembrance of Torto on LinkedIn. “For those of you who have been around a while in CRE, you all know the groundbreaking Torto-Wheaton (now CBRE Econometric Advisors) research he founded 40 years ago with Bill Wheaton,” Levy wrote. “But I’m here to tell you about Ray the man who embraced me, a non-Ph.D. lawyer with a personality probably better suited as a carnival barker than a senior research leader. But embrace me he did, and I guest lectured several classes with Ray at Harvard University and he would grab a glass of scotch with me when the day was done. I’ll never forget a panel I sat on with Ray and several other research luminaries including Jeffrey Fisher, Ph.D. and Glenn Mueller. I told the assembled crew I wanted to pinch myself because I didn’t belong in that company. Ray just smiled, told a joke and made it clear I was always welcome at his table.” 

Torto is survived by his wife Elizabeth; his daughter, Stephanie and her husband, Jon; his daughter, Pamela and her husband, Michael; his son, Nathaniel. his brother, Philip, his sister-in-law, Elly; and his niece and nephew, Elissa and Michael. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Emma, Katie, Cameron, Chase and Hunter. 

A memorial service is planned for a future date. In lieu of flowers, consider making a donation to St. Francis House, at 39 Boylston St., Boston or The McCormack School at UMass Boston, at 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston. Contact Murphy Funeral Home for further information.