Myrna Rottman

Rottman, Myrna
Myrna Rottman, a teacher, Wall Street executive and champion of women's rights died on Saturday, September 26, 2020 after a long battle with scleroderma. She was 85. Myrna received a BA from Smith College, an MS from Southern Connecticut State College and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. She joined the faculty at the United States Coast Guard Academy as the only woman in the humanities department because she believed that it was a "unique opportunity to be a trailblazer for women in a male environment." She persevered in a culture rife with sex discrimination, committed to protecting the rights of females at the institution, including cadets, non-faculty employees and the limited number of women on the faculty. In her role at the USCGA as Federal Women's Program Manager, she developed a program to improve female employees' opportunities for upward mobility. After the 1979 USCGA graduation ceremony, in which US Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams referred in his speech to the LCWB (last class with balls), an allusion to the engraving on the interior of the class rings worn by the all-male members of the senior class, Myrna sent a letter to the Secretary admonishing him for his remarks. Ultimately, she filed suit in the US District Court of Connecticut against the Academy's Superintendent and Commandant and the US Secretary of Transportation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The case resulted in the USCGA being required to offer mandatory sex discrimination training to all cadets and faculty.
During this period, Myrna also served as a Director on the State of Connecticut Teachers' Retirement Board. After her academic career, Myrna joined her husband as his partner on Wall Street as a senior officer in corporate sales at Oppenheimer and later at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Retired, Myrna received a fellowship to Columbia University to study the concept of women isolated in male environments and volunteered as a CASA (court appointed special advocate) to represent children who were victims of abuse and neglect.
Throughout her illness, Myrna showed stoicism, never lost her sense of humor and maintained her insatiable interest in politics. "Geba" will always be loved by Austin, Tyler, Jarret, Luke, Wendy, Peter, Polly, Stewart, Doris, and Bud.
Gifts in her memory can be made to the Scleroderma Foundation, Danvers, MA.