Harold Bates

Harold Bates passed away February 19th at the age of 92. Harold was born in Boston to Phillip Bates and Irene Brown, the middle child between Charlotte (Jack Dunkless) and Robert (Bobby), who drowned while ice skating as a boy, and who Harold forever missed. Coming from the poor neighborhood of Dorchester, Harold earned a place at Boston Latin High School, where he participated in a city-wide children’s symphony orchestra. He played clarinet and saxophone through much of his life and loved jazz music. A brilliant science student, Harold attended Clark University and received his PhD in biochemistry from Yale University in 1960. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Rockefeller Institute in New York City and went on to a career in diagnostic testing, working with several labs and small companies to help run tests and develop new ones. He later searched worldwide for new tests to bring to market.

In 1960 he met Mimi Grajower at a party in New York and after a whirlwind few months, during which he convinced her parents that he really was Jewish by reciting his Bar Mitzvah portion, they were married on Thanksgiving Day in her parents’ Upper West Side apartment. For several years Mimi and Harold traveled extensively, led by Mimi’s vast travel experience and facility for languages. Robert (Rob) was born in September 1966, while the family lived in Nutley, NJ. Michelle came along in 1969, and they moved to East Brunswick, NJ, where Harold remained for most of his life. Harold moved from Hoffman LaRoche to the Center for Laboratory Medicine to MetPath Laboratories, and later worked with Cody Evans as the National Screening Institute. The family joined Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple and remained members of the community.

Mimi passed away from cancer in 1993, after Rob and Michelle had graduated college and Michelle had moved across the country to Seattle. Harold always said he’d never be bored because he had the Rutgers Medical Library nearby, but Michelle bought him an early Apple computer and he took both to doing scientific research and looking for a new partner in life. In the early days of meeting people online in chat rooms, Harold met Susan Bernstein, also widowed, and found love, romance and adventure once again. Susan and Harold traveled the world, and, as he did with Mimi, enjoyed the best of New York City culture, including the ballet, opera and symphony, along with a broad array of Broadway shows and popular films.

Rob married Susan Posnock in 2009 and Harold became a grandfather to Mikey Bates in 2013. His “other daughter” was Susan B’s daughter Lara, and her daughter Catalina was like a granddaughter to him. Michelle’s family, Stefan and Miles Freelan, expanded the family to the Pacific NW.

Harold was a gregarious storyteller, always prepared to entertain and surprise friends with his tales. His warmth was legendary, and he was known for treating everyone well – when he worked at Met Path, he knew the janitors and the entry-level workers as well as the owners of the company and the executive suite and made everyone’s day brighter. His memory could wow with its depth – his stories included details back to the personal lives of his elementary school teachers, and his path crossed many well-known people. In later years he had listeners look up names he told stories about, ranging from circus performers to famous jazz musicians to Nobel Prize winners. In his last few years and months, Harold was cared for by Susan and a wonderful team of aides, and his appreciation of every little thing they did for him was enjoyed by all.

Harold’s motto was “Have fun and enjoy life.”