Howard J. Rubenstein, Public Relations Impresario, Dies at 88

In 1959, he married Amy Forman. She survives him, along with three children, Roni, Richard, and Steven Rubenstein, and seven grandchildren. David, another child, died in 1971 at the age of 9.

Mr. Rubenstein continued to be involved in his business in recent years, but his son Steven oversaw the day-to-day running of Rubenstein, as the company is now known, as its president. Richard Rubenstein founded his own agency, Rubenstein Public Relations, in 1987.

Mr. Rubenstein, nominally a Democrat, signed up a host of politicians as clients, many of them — like Abraham D. Beame, Hugh Carey and Stanley Steingut — starting careers that would lead to seats of power in City Hall, the Governor’s Mansion and the State Legislature. Through real estate contacts he recruited developers like Fred Trump (Donald’s father) and Lewis and Jack Rudin.

By the 1970s he was representing hundreds of the city’s most prominent people and organizations. He also served international celebrities, including Sarah Ferguson, the divorced Duchess of York. Occasionally he had to drop clients — notably four state agencies after Mr. Carey was elected governor in 1974, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1999 after his friend Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani condemned an exhibit there. In both cases he was caught in a conflict and deemed his friendship and loyalty to the officeholders to be the greater interest.

The 1990 breakup of Donald and Ivana Trump put a clash of public relations rivals on display, each with an eye on the bottom line. John Scanlon, known as an aggressive crisis manager, portrayed Mrs. Trump as an integral part of the Trump business empire. Mr. Trump, coached by Mr. Rubenstein, played down her responsibilities. So who won? Her settlement topped $20 million. But Mr. Trump’s net worth at the time was estimated at $1.7 billion to $4 billion.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/29/business/Howard-J-Rubenstein-dead.html