EULOGY FOR HOWARD A. RUBENSTEIN, ESQUIRE
Born September 27, 1932 - Died February 5, 2009
by
The Honorable James F. Schneider
Delivered at Sol Levinson & Brothers
Sunday, February 8, 2009

I wish to thank Lorrie Rubenstein and the Rubenstein family for sharing Howard with us and with the world, and for the great honor of speaking in his memory.
Deborah Devan will speak of Howard personal and private side; but as I contemplated speaking about his professional and public life, I realized that the two are indivisible. The qualities that made Howard Rubenstein a great man also made him a great advocate. His knowledge of the law was unsurpassed. His craftsmanship in woodworking was the same craftsmanship he brought to his legal work, the same care and attention to detail. His love of family and home was reflected in his love of humanity at large. His love of art and music gave depth to his understanding of people. He had a wit and a sense of humor that helped everyone get through the toughest times and the roughest situations. You have heard that he was the acknowledged Dean of our Maryland Bankruptcy Bar. But I think he was also its James Dean; except that he was a Rebel With A Cause. That cause was using his knowledge and ability to help others. Howard loved people.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Howard Rubenstein was born in the Autumn of 1932, a season of despair, when this nation was in the valley of its worst economic depression. His death came in the Winter of 2009, during another economic crisis. Whether it will also be a season of despair or a season of hope will depend in part upon our collective wisdom and courage.
Howard understood the liberating effect that humane laws have on people and our economy. He was enormously important in the development of the law of bankruptcy, both here and in courts throughout the country. Through his involvement with the Commercial Law League and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges he gained a national reputation as a lawyer. He was a founder and president of the Maryland Bankruptcy Bar Association. Most important was his reputation for honesty and integrity. To his colleagues who loved and revered him, he was a trusted friend whose word was his bond. To the Judges, it was a pleasure whenever he graced our courtrooms with his presence. And to his clients, whose very lives and fortunes he labored to protect serve, he was their unquestioned champion.
For nearly fifty-nine of his seventy-six years on this earth, the life of Howard Rubenstein was intertwined with the bankruptcy court. He first saw the inside of a bankruptcy courtroom in 1950 as an 18-year old paralegal. Howard said that in those days, there was only one clerk working at the court, and her name was Miss Helen. A year or two later, the size of the staff doubled with the arrival of Miss Daisy. Howard could recount the exact years that each new clerk was hired, from Ethel Eskridge, to Madeline Cieselska, to Erma Jane Hagert. He knew them all. His memories of those days, when the court was presided over by just one referee in bankruptcy have informed our history. His career took him through the years of Referees J. Martin McDonough and Joseph O. Kaiser, in the days when Howard’s partners were Louis J. Sagner, Mitchell Stevan and Sanford Harris. The whole bankruptcy bar through the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s consisted of only a few practitioners, men such as Hyman P. Tatelbaum, William Schimmel and Irving Grandberg. All that had changed by 1979, when the use of credit cards became widespread, and when Harvey M. Lebowitz became Bankruptcy Judge and the new Bankruptcy Code went into effect, attracting a multitude of lawyers and firms and a much larger clientele. In the 1980s Howard practiced for a brief period with Gary Goldstein and Joel Sher and then for the rest of his career he was a member of the firm of Adelberg Rudow Dorf and Hendler.
The news of his passing was greeted with universal regret. Judge Paul Mannes said that it was the end of an era, the breaking of the last link to our earliest history. Judge Robert Gordon, who worked with Howard when the Judge was a young associate spoke for us all when he said, “Howard was a wonderful guy and a real sweetheart, no doubt about it.” Who among us is worthy of such praise after a legal career of more than 50 years in such a contentious field as bankruptcy? Howard had only friends and admirers. He was loved by all.
Howard ‘s cases were many and varied, large and small, from Luskins to Mr. and Mrs. Jones, but he handled them all without rancor and without alienating his adversaries. He agreed with the writer of Proverbs 15 that “A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.” Ed Goldberg said, “We need more people like Howard Rubenstein in our world today.”
At the end, we can say with confidence that Howard’s life was a success, “because he filled his niche and accomplished his task; he never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty or failed to express it. He leaves this the world better than he found it. He always looked for the best in others and gave the best he had. His life was an inspiration; and his memory is a benediction.” (Paraphrased from Bessie A. Stanley, That Man Is A Success.)
And so say we all.

Submitted by Mark Neal -

I pen my latest President’s Message on the sad occasion of the passing of Howard Rubenstein.  Dean Rubenstein, as he was known in the bar association, was a friend to all.  I met Howard for the first time when I began my career with the U.S. Trustee’s Office back in 1992.  I was just out of law school and Howard was working on the big case of the moment.  I fondly remember Howard taking the time to explain some procedural issue to me and as he was leaving he said something like “welcome to the bar, babe.”  I don’t remember his exact words, but I do remember the “babe” part.  At first I thought being called “babe” was a little strange.  But it wasn’t too long thereafter I realized that Howard called all of his friends “babe” and, more importantly, that everyone was a friend to Howard.  No matter how crazy or heated things got, Howard was always courteous and a gentleman to all.  Howard wasn’t just the “Dean” of our Bar Association because he was one of our most senior members; he was the “Dean” because he embodied all of the good and admirable things for which our Association stands.

Goodbye, Babe; I will miss you.  God bless and may you rest in peace.   

Mark A. Neal, President