EDWARD GOTTESMAN

GOTTESMAN--A. Edward. A lawyer who practiced in London and New York, Ed Gottesman died of lung cancer on February 14, 2024 at his home. He was a serious man, respected and noticed even as a child. Growing up in Hillside, NJ, Ed Gottesman was considered a prodigy. He attended the University of Chicago at the age of 14 and graduated at 16, going on to Yale Law School. He graduated from Yale Law at 19, still too young to take the New York Bar exam. The Bar of the City of New York took him in, and he later joined Coudert Brothers law firm. In 1962, as a Senior Partner at Coudert Brothers, Mr. Gottesman was sent to oversee the firm's London office. He was to live in London for the next 61 years. He found law was his calling, and as such, he opened his own firm in 1970, Gottesman & Partners. It was one of the first independent U.S. law firms in the United Kingdom. He later broadened his interests into a wide range of business investments. He founded and chaired an international holding company which included such iconic brands as Raleigh bicycles, Spode and Royal Worcester china companies, and a system of world-wide computer and healthcare facility operations. Mr. Gottesman's wide-ranging intellect led to significant contributions in fields beyond the practice of law. In August 2023, he was cited by columnist Anthony Peters for his insightful prediction of the 2008 Wall Street crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers (see "The irrational nature of liquidity and its role in financial crises" which credited Mr. Gottesman's article "Credit Crisis 101," World Economics, Vol. 9, No. 3). Mr. Gottesman, a former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in London, was also a member of the President's Council on International Activities at Yale University and a long-standing supporter of the London Bach Orchestra. Mr. Gottesman is survived by his wife of 33 years, Patricia J. Matson of New York, NY; his daughter Polly Moore Gottesman from his first marriage to Allison Coudert and Polly's husband James Just; grandchildren Seth, Eli, Kate, and Meg Just, all of North Plains, OR, niece Josi Matson of Los Angeles, and godson Franklyn Pintado of New York, NY. Mr. Gottesman was predeceased by his daughter Catherine Coudert Gottesman, his sister Arlene Reff, and his two brothers, Harold Gottesman and Jerome Gottesman.