Obituary: Robert W. Witter Sr., 78, broker, philanthropist

Robert W. Witter Sr., who was a longtime Sacramento stock broker and partner in the major trading firm co-founded by his father, Dean Witter & Co., died Thursday. He was 78.

He died after a lengthy illness, said his son, Robert Witter Jr.

Dean Witter founded a namesake brokerage house with family partners in San Francisco and Seattle in 1924, followed by a third office the same year in Sacramento. One of his cousins and original partners, Edwin Witter Sr., moved to Sacramento in 1933 to run the operations in the Clunie Hotel at Eighth and K streets.

He was often visited by his son, Robert Witter Sr., who joined the company in 1956 in a career spanning almost five decades of ups and downs on Wall Street. The growing branch moved to 10th and J streets and later Capitol Mall. He became a partner in 1962 and took over for his father as manager of the downtown office from 1968 to 1981.

With a conservative approach to investing, he advised clients to shun speculation and to buy and hold stocks in quality companies for the long term. His philosophy helped customers weather uncertain times, including a 1974 recession and 1987 market crash.

Meanwhile, the family firm became a publicly traded company, merged into Dean Witter Reynolds, and was acquired and spun off by Sears Roebuck. A 1997 merger with Morgan Stanley formed Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, a global financial services giant known today simply as Morgan Stanley.

Mr. Witter was delighted that the merger brought him together at the same firm with his son, Robert Jr., a Morgan Stanley bond trader. Robert Sr. retired in 2003 from Morgan Stanley.

"When my father joined the firm, it was still a partnership, and he was surrounded by family and relatives involved in it," his son said. "He was very proud of the people in his office and the personal ties everyone had."

Mr. Witter also a philanthropist and major benefactor of Cal rugby, which he and a dozen other Witter family members played as students at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as chairman of the California Rugby Advisory Board and raised funds for the Witter Rugby Endowment, set up by relatives to help the program be self-sufficient. He also raised money to renovate land that became Witter Rugby Field, and he toured with the team from 1987 to 2002.

"He went to all the home and away games and did whatever needed to be done: washing uniforms, driving the van or going down to the Subway to buy a hundred sandwiches for the team," Robert Witter Jr. said. "He was very down-to-earth guy."

Robert Winship Witter Sr. was born in 1929 in Berkeley, grew up on a Natomas farm and was active in 4-H clubs.

He played baseball and earned All-City honors in football at Grant High School.

He also played football at UC Berkeley and went to three Rose Bowls as a backup on teams deep with talent. He earned three varsity letters in rugby and received a bachelor's degree in economics in 1951.

He served in the Army infantry in the Korean War and was awarded the Bronze Star in the battle of Pork Chop Hill.

He returned to Sacramento and tried sheep farming before going to work for his father at Dean Witter. He married Marilyn Affleck, a pharmacist, in 1958. They had three children, including a daughter, Mary, who died in 1983.

Mr. Witter was a past director of the American Red Cross and a member of the Sacramento Disaster Corps. He supported Sacramento Little League and the Golden Empire Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

An active outdoorsman, he enjoyed hunting and competed in trap-shooting tournaments.

He had "a great sense of humor, usually directed at himself," and was proud of his family's deep roots in the brokerage industry and in Sacramento, his son said.

"It wasn't without challenges, but it never shook his faith," Robert Witter Jr. said. "He and his father placed the customer first."

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