Jeffrey Hart Brotman (September 27, 1942 – August 1, 2017) was an American attorney, entrepreneur, and executive. Brotman was the co-founder and chairman of

Costco Wholesale Corporation Costco Wholesale Corporation (doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costco i ...

Early life and education

Brotman was born in a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

, the son of Pearl and Bernie Brotman.History Link: "Brotman, Jeffrey H. (b. 1942) and Susan R. (b. 1949)"
retrieved August 28, 2015 His grandparents were

emigrants from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

; 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''. In 1965, the family moved to Seattle. Brotman graduated from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

in 1964 with a degree in political science and in 1967 with a J.D. He was a member of the

Zeta Beta Tau Zeta Beta Tau () is a Greek-letter social fraternity based in North America. It was founded on December 29, 1898. Originally a Zionist youth society, its purpose changed from Zionism in the fraternity's early years when in 1954 the fraternity be ...

fraternity at the University of Washington. 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.

Career

In 1982, Brotman co-founded Costco Wholesale Corporation with Jim Sinegal,Costco About
accessed March 1, 2012 a protégé of

Sol Price Sol Price (January 23, 1916December 14, 2009) was the founder of FedMart, Price Club (which ultimately merged into Costco) and PriceSmart. He is considered a pioneer of the " warehouse store" retail model. Early life and education Price was bor ...

, 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. In 2017, Costco operated 736 warehouse stores. Brotman was also an early investor in

Howard Schultz Howard D. Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman and author who served as both chairman and CEO of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and as interim CEO since 2022. Schultz also owned the Seattle SuperSonics baske ...

's Starbucks coffee.

Philanthropy

Brotman served on the boards of several public companies and according to ''

Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' magazine, was "connected to 13 board members". He sat on the board of directors of the Million-Dollar Roundtable at the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

of King County. He also served on the boards of Seafirst Bank, Starbucks, and was a trustee at the

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

. He and his wife Susan donated to numerous causes, especially at the

, where they funded hundreds of student scholarships. They also endowed the Jeffrey & Susan Brotman Professorship at UW Law School, currently held b
Steve Calandrillo

Personal life

Brotman was married to Susan Thrailkill, a

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

native and former Nordstrom executive; they had two children, Justin Brotman, an activist and entrepreneur, and Amanda Brotman-Schetritt, a

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

graduate who is an entrepreneur working in sustainability, philanthropy, and design. On August 1, 2017, Brotman died in

Medina, Washington Medina () is a mostly residential city in Eastside, King County, Washington, United States. The city is on a peninsula in Lake Washington, on the opposite shore from Seattle, bordered by Clyde Hill and Hunts Point to the east and water on a ...

at the age of 74. He died in his sleep, possibly due to heart failure. He was a member of Temple Beth El in Tacoma.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brotman, Jeffrey American company founders Costco people 1942 births 2017 deaths Businesspeople from Tacoma, Washington Washington (state) lawyers University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni American people of Romanian-Jewish descent 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople People from Medina, Washington University of Washington School of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers