A true Navy man, Brashears was an avid sailor and member of the Chicago Yacht Club. The Catering Executives Club of America named Brashears' Executive of the year in 1976. He was also a director and on the executive committee of the Lake Shore National Bank and a director of the Greator Chicago Hotel and Motel Association. In 1975, Brashears was unamimously voted a citizen fellow of medicine by the board of governors. He served as a director and vice president of the executive committee for Grant Hospital and also a director and chairman of the governing commission for Cook County Hospital. In addition to his many years of service as a director and officer of the National Realty and Investment Company, Barshears was also a director and vice president of Drake Oak Brook, Inc., and was an executive director of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. Brashears than embraked on the development of the Drake Oak Brook Plaza, a twin tower atrium office building connected to the hotel by undergound parking. The Brashears family owned and operated the Drake for forty years hosting visiting Kings, Queens and various social dignitaries until the establishment of a sixty year ground lease in 1979. and later became president of the parent corporation, National Realty and Investment Company, a 1930 Delaware Corporation. Barshears became president of Drake Hotel, Inc. He then returned to manage Chicago's prestigious Drake Hotel in 1960, he oversaw the development and construction of the Drake Oak Brook Hotel until it's opening in 1962. He was assigned to a tactical replacement squadron and upon being discharged from the Navy, Brashears attended Cornell University's school of Hotel Administration. While in training, he earned a varsity letter for playing football at the University of Wisconsin. After attending Williams College, Brashears served as a Naval Aviator from 1941 to 1945. Brashears died suddenly, Thursday evening at his home in Vero Beach, Florida. Brashears Jr., Born September 21, 1923, died March 31, 2005.
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