Lehigh University:

Anne and Webster A. Collins 1957
Webster A. Collins graduated from Lehigh University in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He earned an M.B.A. from Boston University in 1961.

Collins entered the real estate business as a trainee in the mortgage and real estate department of State Mutual Life Assurance Company and then moved to John Hancock, becoming No. 2 in the western region of the United States.

In 1968, Collins joined Minot, DeBlois & Maddison, a real estate trustee firm, becoming a partner in 1972. In 1983, he joined C.W. Whittier as executive vice president and partner. After five name changes and a structured joint venture, the firm is now CB Richard Ellis/New England, part of the world’s largest real estate company. Collins is active in business and continues to be one of the top producers nationally in the firm’s valuation and advisory group. He is also active in community activities, serving on Beth Israel Deaconess Board of Overseers and a number of other organizations. He served as a director of Boston 5¢ Savings, now part of Citizen’s Financial Corp.

A long-time volunteer and supporter of the university, Collins served on his class’ 35th, 40th, 45th and 50th reunion fund committees and currently serves as a member of the real estate committee in the College of Business and Economics. He established the Webster Collins and Murray Goodman Endowed Chair in Real Estate, in support of Lehigh’s leading ire@l program, and endowed the Webster A. and Harris E. Collins Real Estate Scholarship Fund, which created the real estate practicum.

Collins and his wife, Anne, live in Milton, Massachusetts, and are parents to two children, Julia and Harris ’91, who is senior vice president and partner with CB Richard Ellis/New England.