Thomas Flatley, real estate icon, dies at 76

Thomas J. Flatley, a frugal immigrant who arrived from Ireland with $32 in his pocket and built a commercial real estate empire in Greater Boston and beyond that was estimated at $1.3 billion, died early yesterday morning.

Mr. Flatley, who was 76 and lived in Milton, had been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, his family confirmed.

Speaking with the Irish brogue of his youth, Mr. Flatley made deals throughout the region as he built office and apartment complexes, industrial parks, hotels, shopping centers, and healthcare facilities. His primary turf, though, was Boston's southern suburbs. Near the South Shore Plaza in Braintree he built the Sheraton Tara Hotel, one of several he developed with a motif that evoked the castles of his Irish homeland.