Sigmund M. Hyman, a financial planner who created pension programs for the National Football League, Hollywood celebrities and Baltimore's police and fire departments, died of pneumonia yesterday at Sinai Hospital. He was 81 and lived in Stevenson.
An early advocate of investing wisely for retirement, he founded S.M. Hyman Co. in downtown Baltimore in 1956 and later expanded it with offices in New York and London. He also served on numerous boards, including those of Center Stage and the Maryland Science Center.
"He was a dear friend and an elder statesman of the NFL," said Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell. "He was beloved, capable and competent. In pension planning, he worked for the players, coaches and the front-office people -- he did a great deal to maximize our benefits."
Born in Baltimore and raised in Reservoir Hill, he was a 1939 graduate of Forest Park High School. He played lacrosse at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., while earning a degree in economics.
His college studies were interrupted by World War II. He enlisted in the Army and received the Purple Heart after being wounded during the Battle of the Bulge. Recalled to service in Korea in the early 1950s, he attained the rank of lieutenant.
In 1956, when the financial planning industry was in its infancy, Mr. Hyman founded Pension Planners of Baltimore. He had more than 100 employees, many of them actuaries, and made his headquarters at his Hyman Building, an 1877 Victorian structure at Charles and Saratoga streets. He directed the company from his top-floor office, which was decorated with works by such artists as Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and John French Sloan. He lent paintings to the Walters Art Museum.
"Although he had offices in New York and London, he thought Baltimore was the best-kept secret on Earth," said Edwin Schwartzman, a cousin who lives here. "His main office was always Baltimore."
Through his involvement with sports teams -- in particular the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams, while they were owned by Carroll Rosenbloom -- he met and obtained as clients director-producer Otto Preminger, actors Henry Fonda, Paul Newman and Tony Randall, and playwright Neil Simon. He also was a pension consultant to the city of Baltimore before selling the business in 1980.
He was part of the early effort to bring an NFL franchise to Baltimore after the loss of the Colts.
"Since the day the Colts skipped off to Indianapolis in 1984, he has been the key figure in quiet, relentless planning," Sun sports columnist John Steadman wrote in 1987.
Mr. Hyman also was an investor in a pair of Towson restaurants, the Baby Doe Mining Co., whose ownership included Colts players Johnny Unitas and Bobby Boyd, and Hooligan's.
"He was a Renaissance man, Baltimore-style," said Hal Donofrio, a retired Baltimore advertising executive. "He was a charming guy who collected art and just loved football."
Mr. Hyman served on many boards. He was a former director of Control Data, Commercial Credit Corp., First Federated Life Insurance and North American Bank Corp. He was a trustee of his alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College.
Services will be held at noon tomorrow at Sol Levinson & Bros., 8900 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville.
Surviving are his wife of many years, the former Mary Bloom; two daughters, Nancy Hyman of Baltimore and Carol Piccinini of Princeton, N.J.; a sister, Barbara Weinbaum of Albuquerque, N.M; and a grandson.