Jeffrey Hart Brotman (September 27, 1942 – August 1, 2017) was an American businessman, investor, lawyer, and philanthropist. Brotman was the co-founder 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][3] His grandparents were Jewish emigrants from the Kingdom of Romania, now Romania, to Saskatchewan; his parents immigrated to the US and settled in Tacoma.^[1][3] 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.^[2][4]

In 1965, the family moved to Seattle.^[2] Brotman graduated from the University of Washington in 1964 with a degree in political science and in 1967 with a J.D.^[2] He was a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at the University of Washington.^[5] 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.^[2]

In 1982, Brotman co-founded Costco Wholesale Corporation with Jim Sinegal,^[6] a protégé of Sol Price, the founder of PriceSmart.^[1] 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.^[7][8] In 2017, Costco operated 736 warehouse stores.^[3]

Brotman was also an early investor in Howard Schultz's Starbucks coffee.^[3]

Brotman served on the boards of several public companies and^[9] according to Businessweek magazine, was "connected to 13 board members".^[10][11] He sat on the board of directors of the Million-Dollar Roundtable at the United Way of King County.^[12] He also served on the boards of Seafirst Bank, Starbucks, and was a trustee at the Seattle Art Museum.^[13] 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,^[14][15] and Amanda Brotman-Schetritt, a Barnard College graduate who is a businessman working in sustainability, philanthropy, and design. ^{[16] [1][17][18]}

On August 1, 2017, Brotman died in Medina, Washington at the age of 74.^[19][7] He died in his sleep, possibly due to heart failure.^[20] He was a member of Temple Beth El in Tacoma.^[3]