Mary Joine Dum, a leading expert on the use of computers in real estate appraisal, died on Dec. 15 in Brentwood, Calif., after suffering a series of strokes. She was 80 years old.
Dum’s long career as a writer and editor began in 1981, when she helped found the influential Real Estate Analysts Northstar Users Group. She was editor of the bimonthly REAMUG Journal until 2010, when REAMUG disbanded.
She regularly contributed product reviews to Mortgage Technology from the mid-1990s to 2006, as well as for MT affiliates National Mortgage News, Origination News and Bank Technology News. Her work also appeared in Valuation Insights and Perspectives, The Appraisal Journal and Real Estate Computer Review.
A memorial service will be held on Sat., Jan. 21, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Livermore, Calif. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the American Cancer Society.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1931, Dum graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in medical technology from Ohio State University in 1953. She married Thomas Dum, an MAI designated appraiser from Ohio, in 1953. She worked as a laboratory technician and supervisor for 12 years at Ohio State before moving to California in 1963.
Dum’s fascination with computing started in the 1970s when she was office manager of her husband’s real estate appraisal company. In 1978, she tried to buy a microcomputer but was told by the computer store owner that she didn’t know enough about them. He insisted that she first read a book about computing, which she did and was then deemed worthy to purchase her first computer, a Processor Technology Sol 20.
From 1987 to 1995, Dum was editor-in-chief of The Quarterly Byte, a newsletter on computing in appraisal published by the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers. The Appraisal Institute published her book, “The Computerized Appraisal Office,” in 1996 and in the same year awarded her the George L. Schmutz Memorial Award in recognition of her special contribution to the advancement of appraisal knowledge.
Dum also authored “WinAppraise: Microsoft Windows for Real Estate Appraisers,” in 1994 and “1-2-3 Appraise,” a workbook and disk with Howard A. Pearson, MAI.
She consulted for lending institutions, governmental agencies, academics, corporations, and individual real estate analysts throughout the United States and internationally. She also lectured and presented papers at meetings of the Appraisal Institute, the American Society of Appraisers, the American Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, and the International Federation of Surveyors in Helsinki, Finland.
Dum’s family says her sharp intelligence and caustic wit were tempered by her generosity in sharing her knowledge and love for her work. Her interests beyond computing included taxidermy, photography, and extensive reading. She and her husband collaborated on a photographic essay of Fairfield County, Ohio that they used for a photography show and potential book.
She is survived by her husband, her son Edwin Dum, daughter-in-law Ann Dum, two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
