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MARTIN -- Donald D. Martin, 74, a resident of Albuquerque, NM, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, December 3, 2008. Martin is survived by his wife, Willa; daughter Robin Young; son-in-law, Erik Young; grandchildren, Alex and Audrey Young; sisters, Janet Sue Holman and husband, David Holman of Winter Haven, FL, Dolores Lee Reichel and husband, Bob Reichel of St. Joseph, MO; and numerous nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews. Donald D. Martin, son of a custom home builder in Larned, KS, built over 9,000 homes during his 30 year career. He was the only home builder from New Mexico to serve as president of the 200,000 member National Association of Home Builders. He was inducted into the National Housing Hall of Fame in 2004. As president of NAHB in l998, Martin focused the association's energies in a coordinated effort to successfully increase FHA loan limits and to expand homeownership opportunities. He also helped to initiate studies at various universities including Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies which showed the positive effects of homeownership in communities. Martin's leadership style reflects his background. Raised in rural Kansas, he attended the University of Kansas on ROTC and football scholarships, graduating in 1957 with a BS in Geology. After college, he flew jets and helicopters achieving the rank of captain during a 4 year stint in the US Marine Corps. Martin began his career in the mid 1960's selling homes for a national home building company in Phoenix. After setting impressive sales records for the company, he moved up the corporate ladder of Wood Bros. Homes, moving to Albuquerque and to Denver to become Senior Vice President of operations in six states - New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Virginia, Maryland and Arizona. In the mid 1980's, Martin opened his own home building company in Albuquerque. He built single-family homes and developed residential lots for other builders in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe markets. Throughout his career, Martin was active in NAHB, serving as Trustee of the Home Builders Institute and as a member of the Board of Governors of the National Housing Center. Martin was elected as a Senior Officer of NAHB in 1995, served as NAHB president in 1998, and finally was inducted into the National Housing Hall of Fame in 2004. For the past seven years, Martin served as a Broker and Vice President at Grubb & Ellis New Mexico. He specialized in land sales and commercial building sites in New Mexico. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Williams Fund, University of Kansas, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence KS 66045-3169. Memorial Services will be held Friday, December 12, 2008 at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral, 318 Silver Ave. SW Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102, at 10:00 a.m. Please visit our online guestbook for Martin at RememberTheirStory.com. French 1111 University Blvd. NE (505) 843-6333
        Published on: Sun December 07, 2008