MARTIN WHITMAN

WHITMAN--Martin.

Martin J. Whitman, often said that March 31, 1946, the day he was discharged from the Navy, was the happiest day of his life. After that date he never obeyed an order from anyone. Fiercely independent-minded, he was a brilliant intellectual; a methodical, patient investor; and a man of profound generosity and integrity. He prospered in finance, a field that often slights these values. Born in Brooklyn in 1924 to Irving and Dora Whitman, Jewish refugees from Poland who were in the millinery business, he was raised in the Bronx with his sisters, Stowe and Phyllis. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and volunteered to serve in the U.S. Navy. For most of the war he was stationed in in Hastings, Nebraska, where he worked as a medic. Towards the end of the war he served on a transport ship in the Pacific. Benefiting from the G.I. Bill, Marty graduated from Syracuse University in 1949, subsequently studied at Princeton, and received an M.A. in Economics from the New School for Social Research. Marty began his career as a securities analyst at Shearson Hammill before working for the Rosenwald family, where he got his feet wet in investment banking. In 1974 he founded M.J. Whitman & Co., a full-service broker-dealer. Marty went on to create Third Avenue Value Fund in 1990. He was Third Avenue's Chief Investment Officer through January 2010. In 2012, he created the Whitman High Conviction Fund. Unlike many leading investors, he never sought the limelight. Although some of his deals, such as Public Service of New Hampshire, made headlines, he was dedicated to the quiet hunt for "safe and cheap" investments for his many loyal investors. He made himself a respected expert in numerous industries. These included, among many others, utilities, leading to his appointment as a member of the Three Mile Island Commission charged with investigating the notorious nuclear accident. Marty was a passionate and thoughtful philanthropist, a proud supporter of equal opportunity initiatives. His philanthropy was informed, in part, by his wartime observations of the military's ill-treatment of African American sailors. An equally passionate and savvy investor, he believed in understanding the fundamentals of his investments. His children recall that he would cheerfully immerse himself in stacks of annual reports and other documents on family vacations. Retirement was never for him. On the last day of his life he argued with his physician, who didn't want him to go to the office. In 1956 Marty married Lois Quick (who later founded Human Rights Watch Children's Rights Division) and they lived happily together for 62 years. He was immensely proud of his three children: Jim, a Yale law professor; Barbara, a Broadway producer; and Tom, a Swarthmore music professor. He adored his six grandchildren, Daniel, Will, Nathaniel, Lucien, Raphael and Rosalie. A Celebration of Marty's Life will be held on Saturday, May 12th. For information, email: whitmanmemorial@gmail. com. Donations may be made to the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University: giving.syr.edu/marty whitman.