HAROLD EPSTEIN

EPSTEIN--Harold, (97) of New York City, died on August 28, 2020. The eldest child of Joseph and Sonia Epstein, he was born in New York City and educated at Morris High School and the City College of New York. After graduating in 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served in China for two years during World War II. Upon demobilization from the army, he resumed his education at Columbia University, where he earned an MA and embarked on doctoral studies in American History. While working on his dissertation, he taught at Hunter College, served as a research assistant to the Pulitzer Prize winning historian, Herbert Agar, and worked as an historian in the Department of the Army in Washington, D.C. His plans for an academic career changed when he was recruited by the legendary Bernard M. Baruch, for whom he worked as chief aide for more than a decade. Thereafter, he was employed in educational institutions and foundations, most notably the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States, where he was the executive director for more than three decades until his retirement in 2007. He held numerous other leadership roles throughout his career. He was vice president of the Institute for International Education, where he ran the Fulbright Program for American students. He was vice president for development at Hofstra University, assistant to the president of Hebrew Union College and founding executive vice president of the American Federation for Aging Research, which, during his tenure, became the major American organization funding biomedical research on age-related disease. He was also executive director of the John L. and Francis Loeb Foundation, consultant to the Rosenbluth Foundation and a member of the board of the Langeloth Foundation. A devoted reader and volunteer, he spent much of his retirement reading for the blind and conducting conversation classes for English language learners. He enjoyed travel, classical music and sports both as a participant and observer. Above all, he cherished his beloved wife of 66 years, Lillian, who died in 2015, and his four children and their spouses: Susan (Dr. Harold Horowitz), Rachel (Dr. William Breitbart), Lawrence (Elizabeth), Michael (Margaret), and his nine grandchildren (Alison, Sophie, Natalie, Samantha, Daniel, and Nicholas Epstein, Samuel Breitbart, and Azra and the late Renata Horowitz). He is also survived by his sister, Myrna Seidner. Due to the coronavirus, there will be a graveside service for family. The family welcomes donations in his memory to City College of New York Class of 1943 and New York Public Library.