Howard J. Rubenstein is an American lawyer and public relations expert. He has been called "the dean of damage control" by Rudolph Giuliani.[1]
Rubenstein grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn on 74th St. near Bay Parkway with an older sister. His mother was a homemaker, and his father was a crime reporter for the Herald Tribune.[2] He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Phi Beta Kappa in 1953 with a degree in economics.[2] He then attended Harvard Law School, but dropped out partway through the first semester.[2]
He then began writing press releases for a Brooklyn nursing home, the Menorah Home and Hospital for the Aged and Infirm, after his father had introduced him to some officials at the home.[1][2][3] Initially he worked out of his parent's kitchen, but later moved out after his parents refused to answer the phone saying "Rubenstein Associates".
Business grew quickly; as Rubenstein later said, "I was the only Democratic press agent in Brooklyn, so the politicians started coming to me".[2] He enrolled in St. John's University Law School to take night classes, and graduated in 1959 first in his class.[1][2] He then took a job as an assistant counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, but quit after six months.[2]
He is the president and founder of Rubenstein Associates, which has been described as the most influential public relations organization in New York City.[3] The firm was founded in 1954. Rubenstein’s more notable clients include many of New York’s iconic organizations including: The New York Yankees,[4] News Corporation,[5] Columbia University,[3] New York Philharmonic,[5] and The Metropolitan Opera.[5]