Alan Crittenden, who founded Golf Inc. magazine and the Golf Inc. Summit, passed away May 7 from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease at his home in San Diego. He was 81.
Crittenden, who founded a real estate news company in 1972, expanded into golf in 1989 with the launch of a golf development conference. In the early years, most attendees were real estate developers who were interested in developing golf course communities. He founded a magazine, Golf Development, to support the conference in 1991.
It was the first time in the golf industry that a publisher, other than an association, had combined a magazine with a live conference. He also published four paid newsletters on golf covering development, management, sales and marketing.
“I was just trying to survive,” Crittenden said years later. “A magazine could reach a lot of people, and conferences could be very profitable.”
The conference, later renamed the Golf Inc. Summit, was held twice a year, catering to developers and golf course owners. In the early years, it featured a professional golfer each year as the keynote.
Through trial and error, Alan identified a formula for success that is still followed.
In 1993, Alan expanded the magazine’s coverage to include golf course operations, and changed the name to Crittenden Golf Inc. The name was truncated to Golf Inc. in 1998 after Alan’s son, Jack, took over publishing the magazine.
Alan’s company, Crittenden Research, started with a newsletter that focused on commercial real estate financing that is still published. It was an immediate success and Crittenden quickly expanded into other markets, including multifamily housing, retail, franchising and insurance. He started his first conference, Meet the Lenders, in 1979.
At one point, the company had more than 120 employees with offices in Novato, San Juan Capistrano and San Diego, Calif. Crittenden also dabbled in book publishing and produced a golf-themed movie that featured Chi-Chi Rodriguez.
Alan retired and sold his company to Jack in October 2020. Jack merged his company, Cypress Magazines, with Crittenden Research, retaining the name Crittenden Research in honor of his father.
The company still publishes the real estate finance newsletter and a retail newsletter and hosts a medical liability insurance conference and two real estate conferences.
Alan was born in Washington, D.C. while his father, Phillip, was stationed at the Pentagon. He was raised in San Diego, graduated from University of California Berkeley, and earned his law degree from University of San Diego School of Law.
Alan is survived by his wife of 60 years, Diane; two sons, Ted and Jack; a daughter, Carmina Caballes; and nine grandchildren.
