Bob Reiss

Bob Reiss, 94, passed away on December 18, 2024, at his home in Delray Beach, Florida surrounded by family.

Bob was an entrepreneur to his bones. As a graduate of Harvard Business School and Columbia University, he started and sold 16 companies that specialized in everything from magic kits to games to watches. He taught his business methods to rapt students at Harvard, Columbia, Florida Atlantic University, Arizona State University, and more.

Born in 1930, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, to Rose and Sam, Bob had a younger brother, Herb. Before he began Lafayette High School, a basketball coach scouted Bob, due to his height and mean moves on the court. Several years later, another coach encouraged him to apply to Columbia, and he was accepted on a full scholarship. In the 1951-52 school year, his team went undefeated-the only basketball team in Columbia's history to do so. (Go Lions!)

During his summers as a teen and a young adult, Bob was a waiter/basketball player at the Borscht Belt Catskills resort Tamarack Lodge. He sent home so much tip money each season that his mom worried he was up to no good-but he was simply that handsome and charming.

After graduation, he served in the U.S. Army. He then represented the United States in basketball at the 1953 Maccabiah Games; his team was undefeated. Bob went on to attend Harvard Business School. And once he had his MBA, in 1956 he became a sales rep for the Venus Pencil Company. In 1971, he started the first of his businesses, Reiss Games, which released versions of backgammon, magic kits, and novelty games. Eventually he opened R&R Games, during the Trivial Pursuit era, and he created the blockbuster TV Guide Trivia Game. His acquisition of that license was so novel that in 1985 Harvard wrote a case study on it, which went on to be one of the best-selling academic business cases of all time. It's still taught in about 90 universities worldwide.

In 1995, Harvard wrote a second case study, this one on his Valdawn watch deal. Many other ventures followed, including the marketing and sale of Pente to Parker Brothers.

Bob's most treasured venture, though, was becoming a husband, father, and grandfather. He took to these roles with great joy, teaching his five daughters and seven grandchildren to play the sports he loved, and also to have the courage to follow their dreams, the importance of balancing work and fun, and above all to behave with honesty and integrity. He also had a goofy side-his Donald Duck voice always elicited giggles. And he offered his family unwavering love and support through life's ups and downs.

Bob was a guest teacher in entrepreneurship at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels, nationally and internationally. He loved engaging with students and bringing them back to the basics, exhorting them to "Just ask!" and telling them, "There's no shame in selling!" He also mentored up-and-coming entrepreneurs outside of the classroom, and he started the Rose and Sam Reiss Scholarship Fund at Columbia.

He became an author, with the business books Low Risk, High Reward (Free Press, 2000) and the self-published Bootstrapping 101 (2009).

Bob exercised pretty much every day of his life, whether it was playing tennis or golf, swimming, or running on a treadmill. He was also a strong believer in short, daily naps. He liked good food, especially chocolate.

But most of all Bob loved his life-long friends and his family. In addition to his beloved wife of more than 35 years, Grace Shafir-Reiss, he leaves five daughters: Valerie Reiss (Brad Carmody), Nicole Quiroga (Gabriel), Melody Shafir (Chad Gutstein), Jereann Zann (Lawren), and Georgeanna Shafir (Jason Harvey); his seven grandchildren; and three stepsons: Jere Shafir (Lorna), Rob Shafir (Donna), and Mark Shafir (Hillary). He was brother-in-law to Elizabeth Chastain and Jim Crisp.

Bob loved teaching his grandkids to play basketball, often perched on his shoulders. They miss him so much already.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Brooklyn-based organization, The Game Over Hicks Family Foundation. Their program Buckets-N-Biz helps young people learn entrepreneurship and basketball-two things close to Bob's heart. You can donate by clicking here. https://secure.givelively.org/donate/game-over-hicks-family-foundation-inc/in-memoriam-robert-bob-reiss


And if you would like to read his articles and watch videos, visit: bootstrapping101.com