Saratoga County EOC recognizes Rotheim for longstanding service

Approximately 300 members of the Saratoga and Skidmore communities attended the 18th annual May Day Spring Fling May 9 at the Canfield Casino in Saratoga Springs. Held to support the Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council, the event this year honored Skidmore Professor of Economics Roy Rotheim, a longtime EOC volunteer, who received the organization’s first-ever Community Recognition Award.

Julie Hoxsie, deputy director of the EOC, said that Rotheim was selected for the honor because of his “strong commitment “ to the agency through membership on its board of directors, work as a cook and server in the organization’s soup kitchen, and his effort to generate support for the EOC’s annual Thanksgiving "Adopt-a-Family" program. She noted that while Rotheim is known for being a “creative and inventive” cook at the soup kitchen, he is admired for his dedicated work at the facility, which “directly connects him to our customer population.”  

According to Hoxsie, the annual Spring Fling (previously known as “May Day for Hunger”) is the EOC’s largest fundraiser. Last year the organization netted more than $60,000 from the event, which included live and silent auctions. Because this year marks the first time that the event is fully subscribed, officials are optimistic at exceeding last year’s mark. “Expenses in connection with this event are very low,” explained Hoxsie, “due to the generosity of Steve Sullivan, a former board member (and Skidmore graduate who currently serves on the College’s board of trustees). He donates all the food, beverages, and wait staff, which is deeply appreciated,” she added.

Ron Deutsch, chair of the EOC board of directors, introduced Rotheim, calling him a person “with the brains to identify a problem, the heart to care about it, and the courage to act on it.”

In his remarks, Rotheim said, "For me, working for the community is necessary if I am to have a genuine sense of freedom and individuality. Working toward that end is, therefore natural, certainly nothing deserving of the recognition that the EOC is insisting on giving to me tonight."

Rotheim has been Skidmore faculty member for 27 years, serving several terms as department chair and, since 2004, as the Quadracci Professor of Social Responsibility at the College.

A specialist on the English economist John Maynard Keynes, whose work he has studied for over two decades, Rotheim has analyzed the famed economist’s intellectual development, the inability of economic science to grasp the radically different approach that Keynes offered, and the impact of these obstacles on contemporary economic theory and policy. In connection with his work on Keynes, Rotheim will be in England during academic year 2007-08, where he will be a senior visiting fellow at Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge, an honor that recognizes his research accomplishments. He will continue research for a book on Keynes that he is writing.

Rotheim’s research on Keynes formed the basis for his 2004 Edwin M. Moseley Faculty Research Lecture titled “J.M. Keynes and the Struggle for Genius.” Selection as the Skidmore faculty research lecturer is the highest honor the Skidmore faculty can confer upon a colleague.

In addition to serving two different terms as chair of Skidmore’s Department of Economics, Rotheim also chaired the College’s Department of Management and Business and currently directs that department’s Skidmore-Saratoga Entrepreneurial Partnership.

Rotheim once explained, “Economics is about who is eating, who is not, and why.” His own life reflects similar concerns. He served a decade as an EOC board member and as a weekly soup kitchen volunteer for nearly 20 years.

A 1969 graduate of Ohio University, where he earned a BA degree in economics, Rotheim earned a Ph.D. degree from Rutgers University in 1977.