Robert Beal, a Brookline native who oversaw the growth of one of the East Coast’s largest commercial development firms and played an active role in Boston’s political and philanthropic circles, died Sunday at age 78.

Beal and his brother Bruce led The Beal Cos., which was founded in 1878 and merged with The Related Cos. of New York in 2013.

Beal came from a generation of local developers who immersed themselves in the city’s institutions, charities and politics, said David Begelfer, a real estate consultant and former CEO of NAIOP-Massachusetts.

“You hope the young professionals take a look at his life and realize making money in business is wonderful, but there’s also a responsibility to the community and he took that seriously,” Begelfer said. “He gave his time, he gave his money, and he gave his advice. These days there a lot of businesses that have moved into the state that don’t really have that obligation.”

Beal’s low-key presence belied his influence as a fundraiser for Massachusetts politicians and local institutions, Begelfer noted. Beal was a benefactor of local charities and organizations including the Museum of Fine Arts and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay.

Beal Cos. was one of the early investors in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, anticipating its potential as a life science cluster. In the late 1990s, it acquired 17 parcels spanning 52 acres in Allston for Harvard University’s expansion, drawing the ire of late Mayor Thomas Menino for the university’s failure to disclose its plans.

The family’s firm, the Beal Cos., was founded in 1878 by Abraham B. Beal. In recent years, Related Beal has acquired some of the most desirable development parcels in emerging commercial real estate submarkets. In Kenmore Square, the firm is redeveloping former Boston University properties as class A office space, and it’s proposing a 1.1 million mixed-use project on a portion of the Gillette Co. campus that it bought last year for $218 million.

The company also has the distinction of completing Boston’s first privately-developed all-affordable housing project in decades, the 239-unit Beverly tower near North Station.

Beal was a former chairman of the Artery Business Committee, a group of businesspeople that shaped downtown Boston during and after the Big Dig project. More recently, he was a supporter of the proposed North-South Rail Link project that would connect North and South stations.

Robert Beal graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School and began his career at The Beacon Cos. in Boston, before joining The Beal Cos. in 1976.