Shelley Trubowitz

TRUBOWITZ--Dr. Shelley Howard, died peacefully on Saturday in Savannah Georgia after a long, valiant battle with cancer. A longtime resident of Rowayton, Shelley was 86 years old. Shelley was born in New York City on July 10, 1922, to Israel and Sarah Trubowitz, who immigrated to the United States from Lithuania. Known affectionately as "Mookie," Shelley grew up in Brooklyn, along with his brother Sidney and sister Frummie (Florence). He attended Erasmus Hall High School and later Indiana University, where he received his B.A. Upon graduation Shelley joined the Army, serving as a TSgt. and medic in the elite World War II fighting force known as Merrill's Marauders, which fought in the jungles of Burma. After the war, Shelley opted for a career in dentistry, receiving his D.D.S. in 1950 from New York University. The following year he moved to Rowayton and shortly thereafter, married Jacqueline Vida Loeb. A distinguished maxillofacial prosthodontist, Shelley ran a successful private practice in Rowayton and was a member of the faculty at Yale New Haven Medical Center and New York University College of Dentistry. Among colleagues, Shelley was known for his clinical skills. He gave productive life back to many, many head and neck cancer victims with his elegant reconstructive, maxillofacial and orbital prostheses. Patients from Fairfield Country and beyond relied instinctively on his skill and judgment. Shelley loved life. A terrific dancer, few things gave him greater pleasure than a dance floor, a big band, and a lithe partner. He was also an avid tennis player, who with Ward Chamberlin, took home Rowayton's men's doubles trophy multiple times. A competitive swimmer from college days, Shelley often swam Rowayton's annual quarter-mile buoy race and like Rowayton's other noble "high tiders," was a regular at Bayley Beach. He is survived by his older brother and his sister-in-law, Dr. Sidney Trubowitz and Ethel Mason Trubowitz; his former wife, Jackie; seven children -- Peter, Charles, Jonathon, Seth, Amy, Phoebe, and Mitchell and their spouses; twenty healthy, boisterous grandchildren; and four nieces and a nephew and their families. Shelley's funeral will be held in Savannah March 31. A memorial service will be scheduled for later this spring in Rowayton. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to the Rowayton Civic Association (RCA) in memory of Shelley H. Trubowitz, PO Box 302, Rowayton, Connecticut 06853.