NYC public relations impresario Howard Rubenstein dies at 88

Public relations veteran Howard Rubenstein, who for decades polished and protected the images of New York celebrities and power brokers from George Steinbrenner to Donald Trump, has died. He was 88.

The Jewish Rubenstein died Tuesday at home “in peace and in no pain,” his son Steven Rubenstein writes on the website of the firm that bears the family’s name. No cause of death was given.

Howard Rubenstein founded the agency in 1954. Polite and soft-spoken, he was the antithesis of the stereotypical curt and fast-talking New York City press agent. But his hundreds of clients — from high-brow cultural institutions to politicians — attested to his clout.

Clients included the Metropolitan Opera, the Archdiocese of New York, media magnate Rupert Murdoch and the late Yankees owner Steinbrenner. Rubenstein worked with Trump during the future president’s highly publicized divorce from Ivana Trump in 1990.

— AP