Arthur E. Bartlett

Arthur E. "Art" Bartlett (November 26, 1933 – December 31, 2009) was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Century 21 Real Estate franchise. He and a partner founded the company in 1971 with a single office, which had expanded to 7,700 offices worldwide by the time of his death, though he had sold the business to Trans World Corporation in 1979 for $89 million.

Bartlett was born in Glens Falls, New York, and moved with his family to Long Beach, California in the 1940s. He attended Long Beach City College, but did not graduate.[1] After a series of other jobs, he took up real estate in the early 1960s, accepting a position with a residential real estate firm in the San Fernando Valley.[2] He would own his own real estate company, and met his future partner, Marshall Fisher, at a chance meeting at a diner.[1]

Together with Fisher, he founded Century 21 with a single office in Santa Ana, California in 1971. The business sought to provide independent real estate agencies with the combined advertising, training and brand recognition of the parent franchiser — including its distinctive gold-colored jackets — helping them compete with national and regional chains. By 1977, Century 21 had 6,000 brokers and the firm's share of commissions and other licensing fees the following year reached $23 million.[2] Trans World Corporation bought the company in 1979 for $28.50 per share in cash and convertible preferred stock, in a deal that valued the company at $89 million.[3] By the time of Bartlett's death, the company had 120,000 agents and 7,700 offices worldwide.[2]

Another real estate-related franchise — a home improvement chain called Mr. Build International — was established in the early 1980s, but was closed down by the end of the decade.[2]

Bartlett died at age 76 as a result of complications of Alzheimer's disease while at his home in Coronado, California. He was survived by his second wife, Nancy Sanders, as well as by a daughter, a stepson, a granddaughter and three stepgrandchildren. His first marriage, to the former Collette Cupiss, ended with her death in 2002.[2]