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Name: Donald R. Altman
Social Security Number: 070-28-5765
Birth Date: 15 Feb 1933
Issue year: 1951-1952
Issue State: New York
Last Residence: 06831, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut
Death Date: 20 Nov 2005
DONALD ROY ALTMAN - a long time resident of Greenwich passed away in peace, at home with his family, on November 20th at the age of 72 following a long illness. Don was born in Manhattan and grew up in Rye, NY before attending the State University of New York. He served in the Army during the Korean War. Don married Elizabeth Mary (Betty) Loosier in her hometown of West Point Georgia in 1955.
Don was President of the Swedish company, Bonniers, during the 1960's, a high end importer of designer products and objects d'art for the home. He formed the Finish Trade Development Company in the late 1960's and introduced American buyers such as Bloomingdales and many other retailers, to Finnish and Scandinavian artisanal designers and manufacturers like Marimekko, Orrefors, Italia Glass, Finlandia Vodka, Hamada and the Japanese designer Noguchi.
Don's greatest pride, other than his extensive family, which was his number one love, was that he started one of the very first USA companies to trade with China just after President Nixon's historic visit in 1972. As such Don is considered by his peers as a 'pioneer' in the current vast USA-China trade relations. Don's concentration was on assisting US based firms to sell American made goods into China.
Through his company, Altman Inc., over the next 30 years, Don traveled back and forth between his home here and his office in Beijing on a monthly basis. His fully staffed office opened formally in Beijing in 1979 in the International Club. It was one of the first American registered firms permitted to do business in China. Altman, Inc. assisted in many projects including the construction of factories and roads and in various aspects of the chemical, automotive, aircraft, steel, textiles, poultry and pharmaceutical industries.
He was well known as a soft spoken, effective pioneer in negotiations between the many Chinese Ministries which were just beginning to emerge from decades of communism and American corporations looking to enter this vast new market.
Don was often asked to speak on his experiences where in he was candid about the frustrations, intricacies and rewards of melding communist bureaucracy with the capitalist entrepreneurial spirit. Starting back in the 1970's, Don worked closely with a young American attorney, Clark Randt who is the current US Ambassador to The People's Republic of China. Don also worked and cooperated in his businesses for all these years with Paul Speltz, another young businessman at the time he started his work in China in 1972 and who is the current US Ambassador and Executive Director for Director for the US at the Asian Development Bank.
Don was a Director of the US-China Chamber of Commerce with founder Prescott Bush. He was a Director of the Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce and a member of the World Trade Club of Westchester.
Don is survived by his loving wife of fifty years Betty, son Robert, daughter Beth, Brother James and his seven grandchildren, Brooke, Justin, Kristin, Jay, Lexi, Eva and Billy. He is predeceased by his sons, Thomas and John. He will be missed by his family and so many friends around the world.
The family will celebrate his life in a private service and in lieu of flowers, Don asked that donations be made to Brunswick School Ð The Altman Fund, 100 Maher Avenue, Greenwich, CT. 06830.
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Published in The Advocate from Nov. 26 to Nov. 27, 2005.
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