Robert A. Altman, the CEO and chairman of the video game holding company ZeniMax Media and the husband of Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter, died Feb. 3 at a Baltimore hospital of complications from a medical procedure. He was 73.
Altman founded Rockville, Maryland-based ZeniMax Media with Bethesda Softworks’ founder Christopher Weaver in 1999, and the company went on to develop such video game properties as Doom, Quake, Rage, Dishonored, Prey, Wolfenstein and The Elder Scrolls.
Investors in ZeniMax included former CBS Corp. chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and Robert Trump, younger brother of Donald Trump. In October, the company was sold to Microsoft for $7.5 billion.
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In a statement, Bethesda called Altman “a true visionary, friend and believer in the spirit of people and the power of what they could accomplish together. He was an extraordinary leader and an even better human being.”
Altman became Carter’s second husband when they were married in 1984, and the couple had two children, Jessica and James.
“Robert is the love of my life and he always will be,” she wrote on social media. “Our 37 years of marriage were an extraordinary gift. We shared the passion I hope everyone is lucky enough to experience in their lifetime. We protected each other and were each other’s champions always.
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“We have always been grateful for the two beautiful lives we created together: our children, Jessica and James. They are the lights of my life, and were the greatest joy of Robert’s. I see so much of Robert in them, and I know he lives on through them.”
Born in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 23, 1947, Altman was the son of Sophie Robinson, who created the TV quiz show It’s Academic.
In a high-profile banking case in 1993, Altman, then a prominent D.C. lawyer, was charged with attempting to defraud regulators but acquitted of all charges by a jury.
