| Jeffrey Brotman | |
| Birth Name: | Jeffrey Hart Brotman |
| Birth Date: | 27 September 1942 |
| Birth Place: | Tacoma, Washington, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Medina, Washington, U.S. |
| Known For: | Cofounder and chairman of Costco |
| Alma Mater: | University of Washington (B.A. & J.D.) |
| Children: | 2 |
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.
Brotman was born in a Jewish family in Tacoma, Washington, the son of Pearl and Bernie Brotman.[1] [2] His grandparents were Jewish emigrants from the Kingdom of Romania, now Romania, to Saskatchewan; his parents immigrated to the US and settled in Tacoma. His father was an owner of Seattle Knitting Mills. Along with his uncles, he owned a chain of 18 retail stores in Washington and Oregon named Bernie's.[3]
In 1965, the family moved to Seattle. Brotman graduated from the University of Washington in 1964 with a degree in political science and in 1967 with a J.D. He was a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at the University of Washington.[4] After school, he and his brother, Michael, 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.
In 1982, Brotman cofounded Costco Wholesale Corporation with Jim Sinegal,[5] a protégé of Sol Price, the founder of PriceSmart. He served as chairman from the company's inception until his death, except during a stretch from 1993 to 1994 when he was vice chairman.[6] In 2017, Costco operated 736 warehouse stores.
Brotman was also an early investor in Howard Schultz's Starbucks Corporation.
Brotman served on the boards of several public companies and[7] according to Businessweek magazine, was "connected to 13 board members".[8] [9] He sat on the board of directors of the Million-Dollar Roundtable at the United Way of King County.[10] He also served on the boards of Seafirst Bank, Starbucks, and was a trustee at the Seattle Art Museum.[11] 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.
Brotman was married to Susan Thrailkill, a Montana native and a former retail executive who served on the board of Nordstrom; they had two children, Justin Brotman, an activist and businessman,[12] [13] and Amanda Brotman-Schetritt, a Barnard College graduate who is a businessman working in sustainability, philanthropy, and design.[14] [15] [16] [17]
On August 1, 2017, Brotman died in Medina, Washington at the age of 74.[18] [19] He died in his sleep, possibly due to heart failure. He was a member of Temple Beth El in Tacoma.