You press the "Members Only" button at the Bank of America Tower and, moments later, feel your ears pop.

It is a sure reminder that you are entering the rarified air of the Columbia Tower Club, and mixing with those who've had years to acclimate. They gathered Thursday at a luncheon for recipients of the First Citizen Award, given by the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors. This year — its 67th — it went to Jeffrey and Susan Brotman.

He is co-founder and chairman of Costco, and president of the University of Washington Board of Regents. As co-chair of the Million Dollar Roundtable for United Way of King County, he has (with Scott Oki) gotten more than 50 people to give the nonprofit $200,000 a year for five years.

She serves on the UW Foundation Board, leads the board of the Seattle Art Museum and chairs the Pacific Northwest Ballet board of trustees.

"We had decided that we weren't going to receive awards," Jeffrey Brotman told the group. "But this, we had to. What you did to model our behavior was really important."

The First Citizen Award is the oldest community-service award in King County. Winners are asked for nothing in return.

To be in a room with this fraternity is to stand in a redwood forest of wealth and influence. "It's almost like a United Nations meeting," said Shelley Rossi of the Realtors' association.

Former Gov. Dan Evans, who was honored with his wife, Nancy, in 2003, called the group "absolutely unique."

"They're the ones who have been willing to take leadership roles into the things that really make a community," he said.

On a table near the door, a mosaic of name tags sketched out the face of Seattle itself: Katims. Ellis. Sauvage. Brainerd. Bullitt. Bridge. Oki. Evans. McCaw.

" 'William H. Gates III,' " his father, William H. Gates Jr., read out loud, after he and his wife, Mimi, had found their tags. "Did somebody think he was coming?"

The room — with two long walls of windows — took on an "all you survey" feeling. So many of the people here ran a hand over what goes on below.

Past winners have had a hand in the World's Fair. Children's Hospital. Medical research. The environment. The arts. Libraries. Scholarships.

Possibilities.

"They are fat cats," said 2001 winner Herb Bridge. "But they've used their money in the right way."

In keeping with tradition, previous winners stood to welcome the Brotmans to their "very elite circle," as former Seattle Symphony director Milton Katims called it.

Evans noted that over the next 20 years, Washington will grow to four times what it was when the First Citizen Award began.

"Be recognized," he told the Brotmans. "But the next morning, get the heck back to work."

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

Bill sent a lovely note.