Howie died Aug. 18, 2015, in New York City.
He was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and attended high school there. At Princeton he rowed on the 150-pound crew, was a managing editor of The Daily Princetonian, and belonged to Cloister. Howie graduated with high honors from the Woodrow Wilson School, which, in his words, he “took full advantage of” by working at a turkey farm in Upstate New York immediately after graduation.
Howie’s life was filled with numerous other business ventures, including feeding the Bay of Pigs invasion army in Guatemala; launching the earliest electronic calculators; making The Klansman, one of the all-time worst Hollywood features, starring Richard Burton, Lee Marvin, and O.J. Simpson; creating and selling children’s toys; and losing to Famous Amos at the beginning of the designer chocolate-chip- cookie craze with superior marketing but an inferior product.
His son, Morris, wrote that life with Howie was never dull — he had a spirit of adventure, love of history and politics, and a lifelong devotion to Princeton. He always put friendship first, and approached the world with trust, compassion, and unbridled joie de vivre.
Howie is survived by his children, Morris and Dani; their spouses; and grandchildren Jacob, Matthew, Aaron, and Zoe.