Arthur E. Trotman

Arthur E. Trotman died on July 14, 2025 at the age of 85.

Born in New Haven, CT to Ruth Hessler and Stanley Trotman, Art graduated from Hopkins Grammar School, and prepared for Yale at the Choate School. At Yale he was a member of the Fence Club and Torch. He majored in history and was secretary of the Charities Drive, on the Senior Advisory Board and the Co-op Undergraduate Board. He was a member of Berzelius. He was captain of the varsity soccer team and major lettered in soccer and baseball. In Saybrook he roomed with Jim Bell and Chris Gray.

At first, all he wanted was to be a baseball pitcher. He loved working with the pitching coach during summers at Camp Lanakila in Fairlee, VT and at home with his American Legion team. All this practice paid off in his senior year at Choate, when he pitched a 6-1 season, and was recruited to join the minor leagues. He instead went on to pitch for Yale.

Art also loved playing soccer at Yale. He joined the team in his freshman year and was elected captain in his senior year. That same year, he was the only Yale soccer player to be selected for the All-New England Team.

After Yale he earned his MBA at the Harvard Business School.

Art married Kate Richmond and began a 32-year marketing career with General Foods. He spent 14 years overseas working in Puerto Rico, Mexico, France and Australia. Upon returning to Connecticut in 1984, Art shaped and built the Gevalia Kaffe business over a dozen years, which he found especially rewarding.

When Art retired from General Foods, he continued to work in the field of food and beverage marketing and dedicated himself to helping others. He joined the board of the Union Theological Seminary in New York City and worked with a student-led poverty initiative. In this role, he met a prominent advocate for the homeless, Jean Rice, who instantly became a very close friend. Art spent a decade supporting Mr. Rice’s “Picture the Homeless” organization with his advice, donations, and time. He also led and financed a project to write a memoir of Mr. Rice who was homeless off and on for 30 years.

Art had unending goodwill. One of his favorite quotes was from a poem by Walter Foss with the refrain: “Let me live by the side of the road and be a friend to man.” Whether promoting bike safety in Weekapaug, selling Christmas trees for the Exchange Club in New Canaan, teaching and coaching kids in Miami, or drumming up attendance for school reunions, he pursued it all with intensity and love. He is remembered for his thoughtful leadership in business and for his work with churches and charities in the service of social justice. Universally seen as a people person, he was an optimist with a unique ability to champion causes and gain ardent followers.

Art is survived by his wife, Kate Trotman; his children (and spouses); Hilary Garland (Charlie Garland); Phil (Emily Eden); Eleanor Barnett (Chris Barnett); and his six grandchildren: Ellie and Charlie Garland; Allie and Julia Trotman; and Robbie and Wes Barnett. He is also survived by his brother, Stanley Trotman, Jr. (Susan Trotman). He is predeceased by his sister Elizabeth Davis and his beloved stepmother Barbara Trotman.

Kate, dear. I am tempted to steal a line from a writer friend — “I was shocked by the news of his death. It was so unlike him.” Artie was one of the golden boys of my youth — always in motion, always eager for the fray, always improving on yesterday’s mark. Only some medical repair work of my own could keep me away from your service on September 6. It will be, I predict with utter confidence, warm and loving. Be well and do good.

— Neal Freeman

— John Harger Stewart