Robert Blum ’50 was instrumental in starting Trinity’s fencing team in the 1940s, became an All-American and went on to compete on two U.S. Olympic fencing teams.

After Trinity, Blum went to Columbia Law School and began and long and successful legal career. At one point, he served as counsel and assistant to former congressman and mayor of New York City, John Lindsay.

But he had two enduring passions: fencing and Trinity College.

In 1958, Blum became the first American ever to make the individual saber finals at a fencing world championship.

He competed on the U.S. Fencing Team at both the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo and the 1968 games in Mexico City. The team achieved a seventh-place finish in team saber in 1964 and sixth in 1968.

Besides his success as a player, Blum was also active in the fencing world for nearly five decades as coach, official and mentor. “I have nothing but great memories of [Bob Blum],” said Steve Kaplan, who competed at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. “As an up-and-coming saber fencer, it was great to fence him regularly at the Fencers Club. More than this, he was one of the best people I ever met in the sport.”

Blum won the New York Metropolitan individual championship seven times and the U.S. team saber competition ten times. In 2010, he was elected to the USA Fencing Hall of Fame.

Blum was equally devoted to his alma mater, serving as class agent, trustee, and other roles. In 1973, he received a 150^th Anniversary Award from the college. In 1978, he received the Alumni Medal for Excellence and, in 1985, he was awarded the Eigenbrodt Cup.

Robert Max Blum was born in New York City to Richard J. and Carolyn B. (Winkler) Blum. His paternal grandparents were from Germany and his maternal grandparents from Czechoslovakia. The family lived on Park Avenue an Richard was an executive at a department store.

In 1951, Robert Blum married Barbara Jean Rebecca Bennett of Beaver, PA. She made national headlines in the 1970s when she used her role as a high-ranking social services officer to rescue hundreds of abused residents at a school for people to mental disabilities.

Robert Blum died in 2022 at the age of 94.