Benjamin Rottman

Benjamin "Bud" Rottman, a former Wall Street executive and Gold Life Master bridge player, passed away peacefully on January 31. He was 94.

As a young boy, Bud learned to sail and play the piano and developed a lifelong love of classical music, bridge and sports. He graduated from Hillhouse High School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He served in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps in Korea where he managed an officers club and refereed basketball games. He chose to forego leave time to get home to marry the love of his life, Myrna. They were married for 66 years, until her passing in 2020.

Bud had a successful career in financial services at various firms, including Bear Stearns and Drexel Burnham Lambert, as well as Oppenheimer, where he created innovative financial products and ran the institutional sales department. But what mattered most to Bud was his family, who always came first. He was the definition of a devoted husband, a good man who always tried to do the right thing.

Bud played tennis into his 70s and spent his later years traveling extensively with Myrna, enjoying time with friends, cherishing the company of his grandchildren and outplaying bridge opponents half his age.

He will be dearly missed by his daughters, Pamela, Wendy and Polly, son-in-law, Peter, four grandsons, Austin, Tyler, Jarret and Luke, and great-granddaughter, Josie.