Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community

Syracuse University Celebrates Life of Honorary Trustee Martin J. Whitman ’49, H’08

Tuesday, April 17, 2018, By Carol Boll
Share
Board of Trusteesin memoriamWhitman School of Management

Martin J. Whitman ’49, H’08, an investment industry visionary and generous benefactor to Syracuse University and its management school that bears his name, passed away April 16. A dedicated mentor and teacher who regularly returned to Syracuse to share his wisdom with students in the classroom, Whitman was an Honorary Trustee at the time of his passing.

Martin J. Whitman

Martin J. Whitman

The son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, Whitman was a fixture of the Syracuse University community for more than 70 years. He came to Syracuse on the G.I. Bill after serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II and went on to climb the highest echelons of the fiercely competitive field of investment management. In the process, he developed a reputation among his peers in the industry as the “dean of value investing.”

“Marty Whitman represented the very best of a generation that believed in hard work, education and striving for excellence always,” says Chancellor Kent Syverud. “He used his education and his extraordinary intellect to achieve the highest levels of success, and yet he never forgot his humble roots. He was a role model for thousands of students here at Syracuse and elsewhere, and his legacy will live on through them.”

Graduating magna cum laude in 1949 with a B.S. degree in business administration, Whitman began his career as a security analyst at Shearson Hammill and went on to work in research and corporate finance for several firms. He earned a master’s degree in economics from the New School for Social Research in New York City and in 1974 founded his own firm, M.J. Whitman & Co. Inc., a full-service broker-dealer.

Ten years after opening his own firm, he participated in a takeover of Equity Strategies, an open-end investment company, where he became CEO and president. In 1990, he founded Third Avenue Value Fund, managing it from its inception through 2012 and serving as its chief investment officer through January 2010. He also shared his unique insights and investment savvy as author or co-author of four books, several of which would go on to become industry classics, including “Value Investing: A Balanced Approach,” “Distress Investing: Principles and Technique,” “The Aggressive Conservative Investor” and, his last, “Modern Security Analysis,” published in 2013.

“Mr. Whitman epitomized everything that the Whitman School of Management stands for,” says Gene Anderson, dean of the Whitman School. “His entrepreneurial, insightful and innovative spirit is reflective of our faculty, staff, students and alumni who follow his example in all they do. We are grateful for his many generous contributions of time, talent and treasure. He will be deeply missed by everyone in our community.”

He also had an enormous impact on Syracuse University. In 2003, through the generosity of Whitman and his wife, Lois, the University named its business school the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. With that gift came the creation of a 160,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art building, where today undergraduates and graduates alike gain the knowledge, experience and drive necessary to achieve their career goals.

Whitman supported several other key initiatives at Syracuse University, including the Our Time Has Come Scholarship, the Martin and Lois Whitman Endowed Fund, the Martin J. Whitman Endowed Fund, the Martin J. Whitman Undergraduate Scholarship Fund and the Annual Fund.

Elected to Syracuse University’s Board of Trustees in 2003, Whitman frequently taught classes and led seminars as an adjunct faculty member at the Whitman School as well as at Columbia University and the Yale School of Management. He last visited the Syracuse campus 11 days ago to celebrate the 15th annual Whitman Day.

In presenting Whitman with an honorary degree in 2008, Syracuse University recognized him for his extraordinary success, his generous sharing of his expertise and his uncommon humility.

“Martin Whitman was a treasured friend to Syracuse University and especially to the students of the School of Management,” says Board of Trustees chair Steven Barnes. “He took his Syracuse University education and put it to work in a way that led to tremendous success. His achievements helped pave the way for countless students to follow his example as they launch their own careers in the world of business. He will be greatly missed.”

Whitman is survived by wife, Lois; his three children, Barbara, Thomas (Mira Rabin) and James (Sara McDougall); and six grandchildren.

  • Author

Carol Boll

  • Recent
  • Student Veteran Anthony Ruscitto Honored as a Tillman Scholar
    Friday, July 18, 2025, By John Boccacino
  • Bandier Students Explore Latin America’s Music Industry
    Thursday, July 17, 2025, By Keith Kobland
  • Architecture Students’ Project Selected for Royal Academy Exhibition
    Thursday, July 17, 2025, By Julie Sharkey
  • NSF I-Corps Semiconductor and Microelectronics Free Virtual Course Being Offered
    Wednesday, July 16, 2025, By Cristina Hatem
  • Jianshun ‘Jensen’ Zhang Named Interim Department Chair of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
    Wednesday, July 16, 2025, By Emma Ertinger

More In Campus & Community

Bandier Students Explore Latin America’s Music Industry

Thirteen students from the Bandier Program in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications recently returned from a three-week journey through Latin America, where they explored the region’s dynamic and rapidly evolving music industry. The immersive trip, led by Bandier…

Maxwell’s Robert Rubinstein Honored With 2025 Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching

Robert Rubinstein, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and professor of international relations in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is the recipient of the 2025 Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching. The prize is awarded annually to a faculty member…

National Ice Cream Day: We Tried Every Special at ’Cuse Scoops So You Don’t Have To

National Ice Cream Day is coming up on Sunday, July 20, and what better way to celebrate than with a brain freeze and a sugar rush? Armed with spoons and an unshakable sense of duty, members of the Syracuse University…

Message From Chief Student Experience Officer Allen W. Groves

Dear Members of the Orange Community: It is with profound sadness that I write to remember two members of our Syracuse University community, whose lives were cut short last Thursday when they were struck by a vehicle at the intersection…

Haowei Wang Named Maxwell School Scholar in U.S.-China/Asia Relations

Haowei Wang, assistant professor of sociology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, has been named the Yang Ni and Xiaoqing Li Scholar in U.S.-China/Asia Relations for the 2025-26 academic year. Wang’s one-year appointment began on July 1….

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.