Developer, award-winning preservationist and longtime National Housing & Rehabilitation board member Ross Freeman passed away March 4.

Freeman founded Pioneer Group, Inc. in 1997 and, according to his obituary, helped develop more than 1,500 affordable housing units, including more than 800 in Topeka and northeast Kansas. He was 81 and is survived by his wife Fern, and this would have been their 60th wedding anniversary. Ross will be missed.