BERNARD ROME (1934-2024)

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The E-Sylum: Volume 27, Number 14, April 7, 2024, Article 4

BERNARD ROME (1934-2024)

Numismatic market pioneer Bernard Rome passed away in West Palm Beach, Florida on March 9, 2024. Here's an excerpt from the Vermonter's obituary. -Editor

Bernard Rome was born in Burlington, July 18, 1934, but his family moved to Clinton Ave. in Rutland when he was 2 years old. Rome attended Rutland High School (Class of 1952) where he later returned as a graduation speaker. He was a lifelong member of the Rutland Jewish Center, which is where he was when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, launching the U.S. into World War II. Bernard's father, Louis, was the oldest man drafted in the state of Vermont and served as a chaplain's assistant in the war. Rome was predeceased by his father, Louis, his mother, Celia (Katz), and his brother, Newman.

The family opened a business in Rutland in the 1960s which later turned into the Ski Shack and moved in 1976 to the corner of Route 4 and the Killington Access Road, where it flourished for decades.

Rome earned a B.S. in business from the University of Vermont (Class of 1956). He spent his life as an entrepreneur, developing ideas with a creativity, passion, and commitment that led to some notable successes, including the Rome Report, Teletrade, and a technology that began the modern-day tracking of TV advertising, which he sold to Time Warner. He lived life seeing the opportunity for improvement, whether in grocery shopping or plastic wrap or stock trading. He loved to learn and build expertise in new fields.

Rome returned full time to Vermont in 1991, for what he called retirement. He expanded the Ski Shack, opened other businesses in the area, and worked hard to build a campus in Killington to help expand the housing, education and cultural options in the region. His strong beliefs about the state education finance legislation (Act 60) led him to run for governor in 1998.

For CoinWeek Julie Abrams wrote:

"My encounter with Bernie occurred during my senior year at the University of Vermont when he graced us as a guest speaker in 1986. His talk, which focused on utilizing cutting-edge technology for rare coin trading through bid-and-ask systems and digitized voice boards, left an indelible mark on me.

"Upon graduation, at the recommendation of our mutual professor, Bernie hired me to help him get his ideas off the ground. Together, we embarked on a pioneering venture, birthing the first computerized auction company, Teletrade. From its nascent bid/ask system to the innovative auction model employing VHS ‘catalogs' and later transitioning to computer dummy terminals for bidders, Bernard fearlessly navigated the realms of creativity and adaptation. Our collaboration was a joyous odyssey, culminating in auctions commencing and concluding within a single day, thrice weekly, featuring over a thousand lots in each auction."

I never met him, but certainly knew the name from The Rome Report. Can anyone tell us more about his numismatic career? -Editor

To read the complete obituary, see:
Obituary: Bernard Rome, 89 (https://mountaintimes.info/obituary-bernard-rome-89/)

To read the complete CoinWeek article, see:
Bernard Rome, Entrepreneur and Numismatist – In Memoriam (https://coinweek.com/bernard-rome-entrepreneur-numismatist-julie-abrams-in-memoriam/)

Wayne Homren, Editor

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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