The world will be a little quieter and a lot less joyful without the distinctive laugh of Howard Eskin. "Howie" passed away peacefully on Sunday, October 2, 2022, surrounded by his loving family. A private ceremony was held at Sweetman Cemetery on Tuesday, October 4.

Howie, a jack of many trades, was an avid photographer, and was rarely seen without his Canon draped from his neck or pressed to his eye. He loved folk music and was a long-time member of our local community's Pickin' n Singin' Gatherin'. For decades, he was the coordinator of the GottaGetGon', a folk music festival held yearly at the Saratoga County Fairgrounds, and was proud to be the former house manager of Caffè Lena.

Howie wished he could fly. He earned a private pilot's license and joined the Condair Flying Club in Schenectady. He took to the skies whenever he could to visit his brother for sailing trips on Lake Michigan and to share his love of the air with his daughters. In his later years, he was a consummate drone operator.

Publishing the Charlton Directory and serving on the board of The Harmony Community Center were very important and, let's be honest, time-consuming parts of his life- he absolutely loved it! Howie was dependably found sitting at his computer, pouring over photos and programming code, drawing up charts and graphs to make sense of political trends and national issues. One of his recent joys was doing presentations for Union College Academy of Lifelong Learning.

Howie was born December 18, 1939, in Washington D.C., the son of Rose (Luntz) Eskin and William Eskin. He earned his Bachelor's degree at Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland and his Master's degree and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University. Howie was the first Columbia student to go on to a professorship in that department. At Columbia he thrived as Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He was an early pioneer in the Columbia University Computer Center, and was Director of Academic Computing until he relocated with his family to Charlton in 1984. Here, he worked for General Electric as the Manager of Information System Development in the Research and Development Center until his retirement in 1999.

In 1961, Howie met his beloved "Sweety" and future wife, Laurita Lange (Lita). They were married on December 28, 1963, and spent an additional 59 years together in a loving marriage and true partnership.

Howie is survived by his wife, Lita, his two daughters, Rebecca and Sarah, son-in-law Peter Drake, as well as his seven grandchildren: Ray, Rachel, Nicholas, Lily, and Luke Marshall, Eben and Charlotte Drake; his sister-in-law Sandra Eskin, nephews, Joshua and Benjamin Eskin, and niece Leah Eskin; along with extended family from Ohio and Washington D.C., his very close friends and his rescue kitty, Katrina. In addition to his parents, Howie is preceded in death by his older brother, Gerald J. Eskin.

It's too quiet without Howie and we'll miss him everyday.

A memorial service to celebrate Howie's life will be held sometime in the spring. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Harmony Community Center. Please visit harmonycorners.org.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Daily Gazette Co. on Oct. 9, 2022.

Memories and Condolences
for Howard Eskin

Sponsored by Townley & Wheeler Funeral Home.

5 Entries

Jeff Damens

April 16, 2023

To Howard's family: I'm sorry for your loss. Howard was a mentor and teacher when I was an undergraduate and later my boss when I worked for the computer center. Although we parted ways long ago I am grateful for what Howard taught me and remember him as always happy encouraging.

Vicki Kelsey

October 29, 2022

One of the best parts of the Pick'n' and Sing'n 'Gather'n', Howie Eskin ,passed away recently. His devotion to our family of choice can be found in the years of photos on the PSG website, and in the gifts of pictures that are still seen today, like Bill's and mine on my Facebook page. Like many people I know, when a camera appears, my face often freezes until after the shutter snaps. At least when anyone else was watching.
Howie loved us, and you can see it in the photos he took. He had a gift for candid shots that showed us at our best, most of which involved the love of music and happiness at being together with family and long time friends for whole weekends at a time. He took photos of hugs, smiles, children captivated by a song or being gently taught how to play or learn new techniques, or just hanging out with people we wanted be with.
I have one on my TV of Bill (with his straw hat) and Dan shoulder to shoulder at a picnic table next to our RV going over the fine points of some computer game that other kids would then drop in to watch or play. A picture I treasure is an enlargement of Bill's face and crinkly smile when Howie stopped to take it at a concert. Another reason I treasure it is that Howie came to the house the week after Bill died and gave it to me along with with a comforting hug that lasted a long while.
He was usually smiling at PSG events, and rooms seemed to have more and kinder light when he was there.
Good bye dear friend.
Vicki

Joyce & Tar Riedinger

October 20, 2022

Dear Lita, We were so sorry to hear of Howie's passing. May all your good memories of life together give you strength to carry on.
Joyce & Tar

Michael Hoven

October 11, 2022

I remember a long time ago, when I was a teenager, Howard taught me how the ignition system on a gasoline engine worked. He was an intelligent and interesting man. My thoughts go out to Lita, Rebecca and Sarah.

Maureen Gavin

October 10, 2022

We will miss Howie. He especially brought a lot of interesting conversations and laughter into my Dad's life. He was a wonderful person.

Showing 1 - 5 of 5 results