Rosemary Boden

Rosemary took a 6-lesson class in bridge in her 40’s, but it was after meeting her second husband when she learned how to play bridge well. When not playing Bridge, she enjoys traveling, reading, writing and needlepoint.

Born in England, her family emigrated to New Zealand when she was a child. After finishing her education, Rosemary taught high school Math and English. But she returned to England and became a computer programmer in the late 60s. She joined a consulting company that transferred Rosie to the States, where she’s resided ever since.

After early retirement, Rosemary unexpectedly became the co-owner of the bridge club where she had been teaching new players for years.  Later, she sold the club, began teaching bridge on cruise ships, and bought a condo here in Fort Lauderdale.

Her favorite TV show is Grey’s Anatomy, and her favorite book is The Source by James Michener. Rosemary has been teaching Bridge at our club for years and was the president of the club's Board of Governors in 2021 (during the great pandemic shutdown.) While she has traveled to many places in the world, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan are still on her bucket list. Her favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, with the gathering of family and friends from near and far. Rosie’s personal motto is to follow the golden rule, and she hopes people remember her for her kindness. Rosemary continues to support Bridge education, hoping to get as many people addicted to the game as possible.

Robin Kupperman

Robin was born in New York, but considers herself a Floridian, having moved here when she was just seven. As an adult, she became a certified public accountant, first working at KPMG and then later for a publicly traded company. She learned how to play cards (canasta) while playing with her husband, David, and his family, then graduated to bridge. Eventually, they discovered the Fort Lauderdale Bridge Club and took lessons here, first with Ernie Moore and then with Rosemary Boden. After only two years of playing, Rosemary asked Robin to take on the beginner lessons, and she’s never looked back since!

When not playing or teaching Bridge, Robin spends time with family, loves to walk as well as travel to exotic places, often combining the two into a hiking-focused trip. Her two favorite TV shows are Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad and she loves Ken Follett’s book The Pillars of the Earth.

Robin‘s personal motto is honesty is the best policy, and her current goal is not to sweat the small stuff. She’s proud of her strong work ethic and how she has been instrumental in leading so many people into the wonderful world of Bridge.

Jesse Laird

Jesse has been a familiar face in our club for decades, having learned to play bridge from his grandparents when he was a preteen. As a young adult, he worked for the Geek Squad, helping people like us with computer setup and IT troubleshooting. He still does that today for the Club (often at Knyvett‘s request!)

But Bridge was in his blood, so he became a Game Director and then a Tournament Director, moving from local sectionals to regional and now national tournaments. Jesse was born and raised right here in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and currently lives in Davie with his girlfriend and their dog, Gypsy. Jesse’s favorite holiday is the Fourth of July; it has a lot of personal memories, including big parties his grandparents used to throw.

One of the things he likes about being a tournament director is his ability to travel throughout the US. He’s now extending his travels to Europe and looks forward to visiting Paris, Madrid, Rome, and Athens. Jesse is very proud of the career he’s made in the bridge world, especially working with Youth NABC, helping young bridge players earn scholarships through the program. Fun fact about Jesse‘s Bridge history: his grandfather was a partner to Helen Shanbrom when she played at our club.

May grew up in Lebanon and watched her parents run Bridge games as a little girl. In 1985, she came to the US for her degree in computer science and eventually moved to the States permanently in 2014, at first living in Philadelphia, but then to Florida in 2021, where one of her daughters resides. May speaks French, Arabic, and English (and a little bit of Italian), loves to travel, garden, and take photos from all over the world.

May was lucky enough to meet Kryzysztof Martens, who took her under his wing when he saw her bridge playing talent (they eventually wrote a book about bridge together). With his direction and May’s dedication to the game, she has become a well-known bridge player and now travels the world playing in tournaments. She has two national titles and just returned from an international tournament in Poland.  Ask her to show you her screensaver on her phone and you’ll see just how many trophies she’s collected over the years!

May loves the book The Count of Monte Cristo, and she’s a big fan of the Back to the Future movies. Her favorite place in the world is Paris, the city she visited annually as a child and where her daughter now lives. May is very proud of her family; she has six children scattered around the world, and she’d like to be remembered as being a good friend; consequently, her personal motto is to Live and Let Live.

Andrey learned there was a game called Bridge when he was in his late teens, but he grew up playing canasta and other card games with both his mother and grandfather. Once he learned bridge, he began to play online almost exclusively. Before coming to our club, he had only played face-to-face Bridge perhaps 10 times in his life.

Andrey was born and raised in Moscow, Russia, and after obtaining his master’s in economics, he worked in private banking and investment management for several large investment houses. In 2023 he and his family immigrated to the US in search of greater opportunities. He landed in Florida because a friend lived here.

When not playing bridge, Andrey plays tennis, pickleball, or squash, and enjoys playing the piano and singing. He’s married and has two adorable little girls, so they take up a lot of his non-Bridge time as well. 

Andrey was born on February 23 which is also known as Army Celebration Day and Man’s Day in Russia; needless to say, 2/23 is his favorite holiday. Andrey doesn’t care for television, but his favorite movie is Interstellar, and his favorite book is The Second World War, a history of 1919 -1945, written by Winston Churchill.

He’d like to travel to Antarctica one day to “find the end of the world”. Andrey wants to be remembered as being a fair and honest person and would like everyone to know his name is pronounced with an emphasis on the second syllable (an DREY).