Ridgefield WWII vet Nelson Broms dies at 104

RIDGEFIELD -- When the late Nelson Broms was an infant, he nearly lost his life when a drunk driver hit and killed his mother, who was carrying him in her arms.

Instead, he survived to 104, serving in World War II under General George Patton and during the Korean War, before becoming a leader in health care and other industries.

Friends and family of the Ridgefield resident, who died on Aug. 16, remember Broms as a leader who used his connections to benefit the greater community.

"Nelson was the kind of person who would meet folks and after one conversation, know everything about them," said Roberto Gutierrez, 66, who knew Broms since 2007.

"He would immediately assess where you were from, what kind of person you were, what work you did," he added. "He would assess how you fit into this grand scheme of friends and relationships that he had built over 100 years."

Broms' business accomplishments include co-founder and/or board member of Primark, Continental Telephone, Clayton & Dubilier, Financial Security Assurance, UtiliCorp United, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, the Ethics Resources Center in Washington, Women's Museum for the Arts, and the Council on Economics & National Security.

In the 1950s, he established the Nelson Broms Company and created a new type of insurance policy for New York apartment building owners that covered tenants, according to his obituary.

"Among his accomplishments in his storied career, Nelson provided leadership to diverse organizations in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors and served as a strategic advisor and leader in the evolution of new organizations," said Todd Broms, 73, of Manhattan, N.Y.

Nelson Broms is survived by Pearl Tasch, 98, his wife of 54 years, and six children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

In a statement, Todd Broms said there was no problem facing society his father thought was too big to tackle. Aside from Nelson Broms' accomplishments, however, Gutierrez said his late friend's said his greatest asset was connecting with people.

Gutierrez, founder and president of the nonprofit organization Latino Educational Equity Partnerships, Inc., a dual language academy in Brooklyn, N.Y., referred to his late friend's personality as "magic."

"The magic is that Nelson had this uncanny ability to run in the circles of organizations, of business, of politics, of education, of science, of medical care. He would go to conferences and he would meet... people and get introduced to other people," said Gutierrez, who is a former senior vice president at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Gutierrez continued: "But it was never for the purpose of saying, 'Oh, I'm going to meet such and such CEOs so that I can feather my own nest.' It was always for the purpose of saying, 'Oh, I'm going to meet the CEO of Kaiser Permanente Hospital so I can connect them with my friend, Senator Patrick Moynihan, and those two guys can talk together about how to change medical care in America.'"

He continued: "It was always with a sense of how can we come together so that we can make better things happen."

The early years

Nelson Broms was born on April 15, 1919 to Solomon and Lily Abromowitz in Queens, N.Y. After graduating high school, he enrolled at Baruch College in Manhattan but left in 1940 to enlist in the U.S. Army as an assistant general staff officer, where he served with General George Patton during World War II.

"The (United States Army) Quartermaster Corps was all about providing all of the munitions, all of the supplies, everything that the army needed. You had to do it on time and you had to do it with efficiency, despite the fact that you were in the middle of a war," Gutierrez said. "So Nelson began to understand very quickly the power of what he called distribution."

Gutierrez credits his late friend with helping him found his nonprofit -- LEEP.

"He said, 'Roberto, it's not about forming just a network of schools. How are you going to distribute it out so you can achieve the greatest impact? ' That's what he learned in the war, was how can I distribute this efficiently? ... 'How can I get it so that it saves more lives among the soldiers that are out there in the field?'"

Nelson Broms retired from the military as a captain, U.S. Army Regular, having spent seven years on active duty, including the Korean War, his obituary said.

Making change

Todd Broms said his father was all about "doing the right thing," and that his dad made a long-lasting impact on the health care industry.

"Health care today is managed. Years ago, it was not managed. You went to any doctor you wanted. You submitted a health insurance claim and maybe you got reimbursed and maybe you didn't," he said. "My father's the man that had the influence and the power to commercialize managed health care literally 40 years ago, which is a whole different business paradigm."

Todd Broms said there was no problem facing society that his father thought too big to tackle.

"He was very skillful in mobilizing resources and in motivating... others to make progress toward a solution. He had an extensive network of friends who universally admired him and whom he skillfully interconnected to get things done, ranging from new government policies to strengthening and even creating institutions," he said.

Gutierrez said his late friend's ability to connect with others was remarkable.

"Nelson could pick up the phone and call Newton Minow ... head of the (Federal Communications Commission) in the '60s. ... Nelson would have breakfast with Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. ... and they weren't business connections," he said.

Gutierrez continued: "These were networks of people that liked Nelson, that appreciated his character, his integrity and understood that Nelson was also a very savvy individual, who by connecting people could come up with very creative ways to solve some of our country's most challenging problems."