Howard Benatar Germain ’45

Howard Benatar Germain ’45 died July 19, 2012, in Santa Barbara, California. He had been in and out of the hospital for several months with cancer but died peacefully. He came to Dartmouth from Brooklyn Poly Prep and was a member of Alpha Theta/Theta Chi. He served in the U.S. Army as a meteorologist during WW II and returned to Hanover to graduate from Tuck in 1948. After graduation Howard worked at Germain’s Department Store at Fifth Avenue and 15th Street in Brooklyn, a family business started in 1898 by his grandparents. He left the retail business and worked in sales in the garment industry, eventually becoming national sales manager for the Flexnit Co. He retired from that position at age 50 and moved with his wife, Roseanne, whom he had married in 1974, to Hilton Head, South Carolina, to pursue his interest in golf. On Hilton Head Island he worked as a part-time mailman, gave bat and bar mitzvah lessons and became a U.S. Tennis Association lineman, officiating on the tennis tour, and at the U.S. Open. In a couple of those meets he called two strokes by John McEnroe out, and received memorable comments from the athlete. Howard said later that McEnroe was right, and that he had missed both calls. After 20 years at Hilton Head Island Howard and Roseanne moved to Valle Verde, a continuing care retirement facility in Santa Barbara, where they were very happy. Roseanne predeceased him. He is survived by children Amy, Ellen and Neal, two granddaughters and two grandsons. Friends from Hilton Head Island wrote nice remembrances of Howard and his contributions there.