Harold Francis Reichenthal

Harold Francis Reichenthal (June 1, 1921–October 9, 2021), of Boca Raton, Florida, widower of Valerie Reichenthal, sadly left us at the age of 100 on October 9, 2021. He was a man that everyone liked. His life was eventful, with much to take pride in, and he often told colorful stories about it. One was about how he renewed his driver's license at 100.

Harold was born in the Bronx on June 1, 1921, son of Charles (1889-1928) and Helen Sattler Reichenthal (1897-1932). Charles, who immigrated from Galicia, Austria, was first a tailor but then became a very successful fashion artist. Driving the family to Miami in 1928 for a holiday, a balloon tire on Charles' fancy car exploded, causing a crash. He was killed; Helen and Harold's brother Eugene were seriously injured, and Harold's beloved dog Sally also died. He was 7. Their mother remarried in 1931, but died of injuries related to the accident, while giving birth to her third child, Harold and Eugene's half-sister Helen Susan Malachoff (1932–1992). Rejecting an adoption offer from Susan's father Hyman Malachoff (1896–1977), the boys were, in Harold's terms, "left to fend for themselves," but they thrived, remaining in the fully-paid family home in Flushing, New York. "No parents, no bedtime" was how Harold described it later. A grandmother, who Harold said was nearly blind and deaf, sometimes visited and cooked for them. "Until the money ran out" they also had a live-in housekeeper.

Harold graduated in 1940 from Bayside High School, in Queens. He took up gymnastics in school and was selected to train with the US Men's Olympic Team. Unfortunately World War II ensued, the Olympics were suspended, as were his studies; he had joined his older brother Eugene at Ithaca College, and wrote for the campus paper, The Ithacan, of which Eugene, a music major, was Managing Editor. Harold left college and joined the US Army Air Corps in 1942, and was trained as a pilot, bombardier, and navigator. While at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, for his training, he met the love of his life, Valerie Williams. He served in the 13th Force Philippine Campaign and achieved the rank of first lieutenant. He and Valerie were married when he returned to the U.S. in 1945, and remained happily married for 69 years, until her death in 2014.

Following the war, Harold finished his B.S. at Ithaca College. His degree was in drama, but he always described it as the more salable "English and Speech". Along with participating in many play productions—he "stole the show" as the lion in Androcles and the Lion, of George Bernard Shaw—he was a cheerleader, building on his gymnastics skills, and a member of the drama fraternity Theta Alpha Phi. He went on to earn an M.S. in Public School Administration at the New York State College for Teachers at Albany (Albany State). From 1948 to 1953 he was the English teacher at Mayfield Central School, Mayfield, New York, where he organized a community theater, and was a Cub Scout den leader and a volunteer fireman. In 1953 the Rensselaer County Technical Institute, later Hudson Valley Community College, opened; he was its first English professor, and soon after, its first Dean of Students. All his friends knew, because he told them, that he had been the first Dean of Students at Hudson Valley Community College, a name he said he encouraged the college to adopt.

His and Valerie's first two children, Judy and Randy, were born in 1950 and 1951; Chip followed in 1958. Despite his academic employment, Harold described himself then as poor, so much so that he took a summer job selling Fuller Brush products. He was very successful and progressed to selling insurance; he resigned from his position at Hudson Valley Technical Institute in 1954. In 1955 he joined the Home Life Insurance Company (today part of The Phoenix Companies), and was soon one of their most successful salesmen nationally. Life insurance underwriting expanded to become financial planning. He was a great success as a lecturer on financial topics, and he saw the world while a paid lecturer on cruise ships.

Harold's first company (1982), of which he was the President, was Harold F. Reichenthal Financial Advisors Inc.; Valerie was his secretary. He became a local celebrity by hosting radio and TV call-in shows, both named "Dollars and Sense", on which he gave tax, investment, and retirement advice, and interviewed various financial professionals. They were on WMHT, Albany public radio and television; he received no direct compensation, but they generated clients. He also gave many talks on tax laws and investing. In 1987 he incorporated Reichenthal, Family & Agel, with an office at 24 Computer Drive West, in Colonie, New York. He served as a member of then-Governor Mario Cuomo's team responsible for developing the New York State Lottery.

After their time in Boght Hills, Harold and his family moved into a unique 7-level house in Niskayuna, a suburb of Schenectady.

The list of his community and charitable activities and donations is extensive. He was a great fan of ballet, and was a Life Sponsor of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. He served as president and legislative chairman of the Boght Hills Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), president of the North Colonie PTA Council, the Albany Heart Association, the Albany Life Underwriters Association, the Sacandaga Men's Teachers Association, the Fulton County District Teachers Association, and the Mayfield Central School Teachers Association. He served as national vice-chairman of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. He served two terms as president of the Albany County Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Foundation, followed by the presidency of the Capital District Association and a member of the Board of Directors of the national association.

After his retirement in the late 1980s, he and Valerie moved to Boca Raton, Florida, because, he said, they found the people there to be the friendliest of any of the retirement communities they visited. There he lived life to its fullest, playing golf into his 80s and tennis until he was 95, and he was also an expert bridge player. He was a wonderful storyteller with a repertoire of amazing stories, and even repeated stories were enchanting. He contributed generously to charities, among them the Jewish Federation of South Florida, was fair to everyone, and was always a great companion. His mailman spoke at his memorial service of how Harold had befriended him. He was a person you hoped you would sit next to on an airplane, a pleasure to be near. The world is a better place because he was here.

A memorial service was held on October 29 at Edgewater at Boca Pointe, his final home, in Boca Raton. At it his daughter Judith read a 1999 Father's Day card to him, which he had saved: "You taught me love for the arts: theater, dance, fine art, and music. I remember sitting on the floor next to the record player listening to Heifetz and watching you love him. You have a passion for life not paralleled by anyone...a bird, a slice of pizza, a poem, anything you love you envelop, you exude, you revel in. You taught me to be positive, that the glass is half full; you taught me to ride out pain, to keep picking myself up, because that was what you did. You taught me fairness, right, honesty (democracy), you taught me to budget and save... (So much to write!) Most of all, you taught me the art of being fully human, and how to live and cherish and nurture. For all these things and much, much more I thank you and wish you a Happy Father's Day with all my heart."

He is survived by his children Judith Eisenberg, Randy Ryder, and Charles "Chip" Reichenthal; his grandchildren Jason Piraino, Jonathan Piraino, Dallas Ryder, and Veronica Reichenthal; and his great-grandchildren Vincent Piraino, Sadie Piraino, and Nina Piraino. His body was cremated. In lieu of flowers please make a donation in his memory to Hospice by the Sea of Boca Raton, where he passed in peace, comfort, and dignity.