Pohlad Companies executive and prominent commercial real estate developer Boyd Stofer died suddenly Tuesday at the age of 62.

Stofer was chairman and CEO of Marquette Real Estate Group, the holding company for United Properties, Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq Real Estate Services, NorthMarq Capital, and RJM Construction. The company is owned by Pohlad Family Companies, which also owns the Minnesota Twins.

A Pohlad press release didn't specify the cause of death, but company spokeswoman Mary Lilja told the Star Tribune that he died of natural causes when he was on vacation in Phoenix. No further details were available.

“Boyd exemplified excellence in everything he did as the architect and leader of our real estate group,” Jim Pohlad, owner of Pohlad Companies, said in a statement. “It is a terrible loss for all of us who were fortunate enough to know Boyd and to have worked side by side with him.”

Stofer began his 33-year career at Marquette Real Estate Group as a project manager for United Properties, and he's credited with putting the company on the map as a major Twin Cities developer. He developed Northland Executive Office Center, Southpoint Tower, and Northland Plaza-which together comprise more than 1 million square feet.

Stofer became president and CEO of United Properties in 1993. When the development industry crashed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he retooled the company and expanded it to include a third-party services business. By the time development picked up again in 1995, United Properties was the largest brokerage and property management firm in the Twin Cities. It was acquired by the Pohlad family in 1998.

Among Stofer's most significant accomplishments was the Centennial Lakes mixed-use development, which was completed in 2000. In recognition of the project, United Properties won Developer of the Year by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) in 2004.

In 2008, after Stofer had overseen substantial growth at United Properties, he completed a reorganization that formed Marquette Real Estate Group, which now employs more than 1,200.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak told the Star Tribune that Stofer's death was “a devastating, devastating loss.” He added that Stofer “was leading United Properties and in a period when people were building very rapidly. Boyd had a more measured approach that let United Properties survive.”

Stofer was past local president and a national board member of NAIOP, and he served as a board member of several nonprofits, including the Boys & Girls Club of the Twin Cities and the Trust for Public Land.