Jeffrey Brotman

Jeffrey Hart Brotman (September 27, 1942 – August 1, 2017) was an American businessman, investor, lawyer, and philanthropist. Brotman was the cofounder and chairman of Costco Wholesale Corporation.

Early life and education Brotman was born in a Jewish family in Tacoma, Washington, the son of Pearl and Bernie Brotman. His grandparents were Jewish emigrants from the Kingdom of Romania (now Romania) to Saskatchewan; his parents immigrated to the US and settled in Tacoma.

In 1965, the family moved to Seattle.

Career After college and law school, he and his brother, Michel, founded a women's jeans store named Bottoms; and in the 1980s, they founded the Jeffrey Michael chain of men's clothing stores, which they operated into the 1990s. a protégé of Sol Price, the founder of PriceSmart. In 2017, Costco operated 736 warehouse stores. according to Businessweek magazine, was "connected to 13 board members". He sat on the board of directors of the Million-Dollar Roundtable at the United Way of King County. He also served on the boards of Seafirst Bank, Starbucks, and was a trustee at the Seattle Art Museum. He and his wife Susan donated to numerous causes, especially at the University of Washington, where they funded hundreds of student scholarships. They also endowed the Jeffrey & Susan Brotman Professorship at UW Law School, currently held by Steve Calandrillo.

Personal life Brotman married Susan Thrailkill. They had two children, Justin Brotman, who became an activist and businessman, and Amanda Brotman-Schetritt, a Barnard College graduate who works in sustainability, philanthropy, and design.

On August 1, 2017, Brotman died in Medina, Washington at the age of 74. He died in his sleep, possibly due to cardiac arrest. He was a member of Temple Beth El in Tacoma.