It is hard to imagine a fuller and more varied New York life than Howard Rubenstein’s. Over a 66-year career, he counseled some of the city’s most famous and powerful figures.

"If you did the same thing over and over and over again, I don't think I would have stayed here," he told NY1 in a 2003 profile.

What You Need To Know

  • Howard Rubenstein, a go-to public relations strategist for New York’s powerful, died Tuesday at 88

  • His clients ran the gamut, from Michael Jackson and George Steinbrenner to Donald Trump and David Dinkins

  • Born and raised in Brooklyn, he dropped out of Harvard Law School and founded his business in 1954

  • Rubenstein founded the Association for a Better New York, one of the city’s leading civic groups

Rubenstein’s public relations firm amassed an incredible list of clients over the years, like the New York Yankees, the New York Archdiocese and, in the 1990s, Donald Trump. 

He also had the ear of New York politicians, counseling mayors and governors from Nelson Rockefeller to Ed Koch to David Dinkins. On the other end of the political spectrum, he also counted Rupert Murdoch as a client.

With President Obama, Cardinal Egan, Former Mayor Dinkins

"If I like a public official and I like what they stand for,” he said, “I'll do what I can to help that person."

Rubenstein was born and raised in Brooklyn, and dropped out of Harvard Law School to forge a career in public relations. 

While doing much of his work behind the scenes, he became a power broker in his own right and played a prominent role in New York’s civic life.

Alongside Robert Kennedy.

A regular jogger, he helped grow the New York City Marathon and revitalize Times Square, and, in the 1970s, helped address the city’s fiscal crisis, founding the Association for a Better New York, still one of the city’s leading civic groups.

And with his light touch and unassuming demeanor, he won over just about everyone he came across, including the celebrities who hired him to do damage control.

At Yankee Stadium with Derek Jeter.

"I don't respond to their celebrity standing. I try to treat them as peers, and help solve their problem,” he said.

His son, Steven, who now runs the firm, said in a statement, “My dad saw himself as a kid from Bensonhurst, a Harvard Law School dropout who had been afforded enormous opportunity in and by New York City. But that narrative understates how hard he worked to become one of the most sought-after counsellors and advisors to leaders, businesses, and civic institutions. He helped to invent contemporary public relations, and made it his life’s passion to elevate it into an ethical and honorable profession.”