Industry mourns Story of Christmas founder trustee Stephen Chambers

Stephen Chambers, founder trustee of charity event The Story of Christmas, died on 21 June aged 77, after a four-year battle with cancer. Chambers’ 50-year career in real estate spanned several aspects of commercial and residential real estate investment and development.  He worked at Allsop for 26 years, where he was an equity partner. He also held roles at the Coal Industry Superannuation Scheme (now part of LaSalle Investment Management), the Greater London Council, Hillier Parker May & Rowden (now part of CBRE) and developer Town & City Properties. While at Allsop, Chambers became involved with The Story of Christmas in 1980. He began the live auction more than 25 years ago, which he continued to help organise in the later years. Chambers served as a trustee at The Story of Christmas for nine years until 2020, when he retired to become a founder trustee. After his retirement from Allsop, Chambers led the estates department at St Dunstan’s, a charity for blind ex-servicepeople. In his four years there, he restructured the department and commercialised its real estate portfolio to boost its income. Until recently, he was a trustee of St Dunstan’s pension fund.  He also served as an independent consultant at Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises Investment Management, as a director of Lowe’s hospitality structured investment fund, and as a member of the senior advisory group at Crosswater Realty Advisors, which is also headquartered in LA. Additionally, he is a liveryman of the Bakers’ Company in the City of London. Marc Corbett-Weaver, artistic director and chief executive of The Story of Christmas, described Chambers as “a very active board member who gave very generously of his time”.  “As well as helping tirelessly with the event, Stephen was particularly keen to join site visits to our beneficiary charities to view the charitable projects being funded,” said Corbett-Weaver.  “During the lead up to each Christmas event, we worked together on a more-or-less daily basis. Stephen’s huge and longstanding contribution to The Story of Christmas will be remembered fondly and he will be very much missed by us all.” A small private service will be held, as according to Chambers’ wishes. Chambers is survived by his wife Valerie, and four children.  To send written condolences to the family, Corbett-Weaver and the team at The Story of Christmas can be contacted at info@socappeal.com. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@eg.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @EGPropertyNews