Ruth Gottesman
had founded the company in 1874 . The family of Ruth ’ s mother , Eleanor Kohn , owned the Hochschild Kohn department store mentioned earlier .
Ruth and Sandy met the summer before she was to start at Mount Holyoke College , as he was entering Harvard Business School . They married in 1950 , after Sandy graduated . She completed her college education at Barnard College of Columbia University . The couple moved to Scarsdale , New York , where their three children — Robert , Alice and William — could attend public schools . Sandy went to work on Wall Street at Hallgarten & Co . and Ruth enrolled at Teachers College of Columbia University . She earned her master ’ s degree and then her doctoral degree in educational psychology . She later served on the Board of Trustees of Teachers College from 1989 to 2018 .
In 1968 , Ruth joined the Children ’ s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center ( CERC ) at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine , where she built a program to help children with learning disabilities . Ruth worked as a clinician , as well as an educator , developing training programs for health professionals , educators and physicians who work with children with learning disabilities . In 1992 , she became director of the Fisher Landau Center , which , according to their website , “ coordinates all CERC activities in the treatment of learning disabilities in
Sandy and Ruth Gottesman
children , adolescents and adults .”
Ruth served on the faculty of the Albert Einstein Medical School for 32 years and now holds the title of clinical professor of pediatrics emerita . In 2002 , she was elected to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine ’ s Board of Trustees , served as chair from 2007 to 2014 and was re-elected chair in 2021 . She recalls that on the day when she was awarded her EdD degree from Teachers College , Sandy answered a phone call at home asking for Dr . Gottesman . He replied that Dr . Gottesman was busy washing the dishes .
After Sandy met Warren Buffett , he introduced Ruth to Warren ’ s wife , Susie . Sandy remembered , “ One of the reasons we became close friends at the time was that Susie met my wife and she loved my wife , and [ Ruth ] loved Susie .” Ruth played the piano and Susie was an accomplished singer ; over the years , Ruth wrote many songs for Susie to sing at parties for the Buffetts ’ large group of friends , known as the Buffett Group . Ruth remembers , “ Susie was a healer … She reached out to everyone she met to try to help them … She was the closest thing to being a saint — a happy saint .”
Travels with Buffett
The Buffett Group of friends got together every two years at a different resort . Ruth remembers that during a meeting in Sun
Valley , Sandy received a call from his office that one of his employees had misled their client about the value of their portfolio in order to avoid showing a loss . Sandy fired him on the spot . “ He was straight as an arrow and knew right from wrong ,” Ruth told me .
Each year , after the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting , Susie and Warren Buffett would travel to New York to reconnect with their friends there . In welcome , Sandy and Ruth Gottesman would host a traditional dinner party at their home every year until Susie passed away in 2004 . Buffett recalls that on these trips to New York , he and Susie would stay at the Plaza Hotel for a few days and then visit the Gottesmans at their home in Rye , New York . He recalls they had an extension on their home which became known as “ Buffett ’ s Hut .”
Sandy ’ s favorite sport was swimming . In fact , he had a large swimming pool at his home . One of his partners jested that whenever Sandy jumped into a pool , he would come out with two new clients . This would not be surprising for a whale of a value investor .
Sandy also enjoyed playing golf with Warren . “ We had a group of eight of us that would go out to the West Coast and play golf at Pebble Beach and three other courses over a four-day period ,” Sandy remembered . “ One thing that Warren does is he brings everybody together and he shares everybody . He doesn ’ t keep anyone to himself . So , all of Warren ’ s friends , I got to meet early in the game . Murphy [ Tom Murphy , Cap Cities ABC ], Burke [ Jim Burke , Johnson & Johnson ]… the Loomises [ Carol Loomis and her husband John ]— all came out of being involved with Warren . It ’ s been a wonderful experience .”
Philanthropy
The Gottesman family has a long tradition of philanthropy . It began with Sandy ’ s grandfather , Mendel , and continued with his parents , Benjamin and Esther , who supported Jewish educational institutions in the United States and Israel and also Hadassah , the Women ’ s Zionist Organization . Building on this family tradition , in 1965 Sandy and his brother Milton created the Gottesman Fund . During his life , Sandy was a generous donor to many Jewish and secular institutions . His most noteworthy philanthropic gifts focus on
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