Obituary of Howard Leslie Rothchild

Howard Leslie Rothchild, 94, of Hilton Head Island passed away on February 2, 2024.  He grew up in Burlington, Vermont by beautiful Lake Champlain. 

Howard was always active in sports.  He started skiing about the time he started walking.  He earned three letters each as the varsity quarterback in football and shortstop on the state championship high school baseball team.  After graduating from the University of Vermont (B.S.) and the University of Pittsburgh (M. Litt), he served two years in the US Army as an instructor in Psychological Warfare.  And along his service path, he was an on-site observer at Yucca Flats, Nevada, when an atom bomb was dropped 10,400 yards away.  Talk about duty for your country!

But from high school on, he always wanted to work in the advertising agency field.  He had a flair for the creative and quick wit for instant ideas.  Howard started his ad agency career in the 1960’s in Pittsburgh, the 70’s in Atlanta and the 80’s on in Miami, with active participation in top management, account supervision and the creative output.  His advertising agency counsel ranged from one of the nation’s largest retailers (Sears) to France’s larges toy manufacturer (Majorette) to marketing services for the No. 1 world tennis player (Ivan Lendl) to the ad agency for the 36^th President of the United States (Jimmy Carter).  Howard relished his time teaching (evenings) marketing and advertising at the Universities of Pittsburgh, Georgia State, Florida International and Phoenix.  Along the way, he co-founded a Big Brothers chapter and Rolling Hills Country Club in Pittsburgh and was the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Florida Advertising Golf Association in Miami.  While in Miami, he served six years on the Board of Directors of Temple Beth Sholom, a large Miami Beach reform temple.  And for five years, he was an active volunteer with the Executive Service Corps of Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale), working with executives of Broward nonprofits, providing them with fresh insights gained from over 45 years in an ad agency career.

Howard is survived by his forever love Sheri Farbstein, 3 children Staci, Erik and Jessica and three grandchildren.

Donations may be made to the Friends Campaign of Congregation Beth Yam.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, February 8 at 2pm at Congregation Beth Yam.