Bob Katzman
- Old People Rock
- May 29
- 1 min read
Updated: Jun 9
Bob Katzman has been an entrepreneur for virtually his entire life. He started his first business at age 12, opened a wooden newsstand at 15, and owned a delicatessen by 19. In his late 30s, he launched both a foreign-language travel bookstore and a back-issue magazine store that carried more than 150,000 periodicals dating back to 1576. He has also authored 25 books about his life, selling more than 7,000 copies.
Along the way, Bob endured 44 surgeries spanning more than seven decades—from his first operation at age one in 1951 to his most recent in December 2025. Through it all, he has never lost faith in himself or in what he is capable of accomplishing.
Robert has overcome so much in life and continues to not only survive, but thrive!
You have gone from selling other people's words to writing 25 of your own books—that’s an incredible lifetime love affair with print! It shows that an entrepreneurial spirit never really slows down, it just changes shape. I’m envious as well as curious if you had a “do over,” would you tend toward “selling” or “writing?”