Howard M. Blankman, a fixture among public relations professionals, who wrote and produced a television show starring Johnny Carson and composed music for off-Broadway productions, died in his home in Port Washington on March 17. He was 91.
Donna Blankman, his wife of 50 years, said he died of natural causes.
Blankman was the CEO and founder of the Blankman Group, a public relations and marketing firm based on Long Island, working with the Long Island Rail Road, the Archdiocese of Rockville Centre, Cablevision and others.
In 2004, he sold the firm, which he started out of his living room in 1968.
“He has always been full of ideas,” Donna Blankman said. “He was always busy and always coming up with something. He never stopped thinking or planning. That was his nature.”
Following his divorce from Daisy Adams, Blankman married Donna Blankman on Oct. 22, 1966.
After writing the music for the off-Broadway production “By Hex,” which was being performed outside of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Blankman met Donna, who auditioned to be a dancer in the show.
“He kept asking me out, and I kept saying no,” Donna Blankman said. “After a while, I realized the only way to get rid of him was to go out with him, so I did, and it was a wonderful time. I had a lot of fun.”
He also composed the music and lyrics for “Cool Off.”
He also write the music and book for a musical adaptation of “Treasure Island.”
Stationed in Texas after enlisting in the Army in 1948, Blankman used his free time to compose musical pieces for the troops overseas.
From 1957 to 1963, Blankman was a writer and associate producer for the TV game show “Who Do You Trust?” that starred Johnny Carson.
Donna Blankman said he loved the arts, and he served as the president of the Great Neck Symphony Society and then vice chair of the Nassau Symphony Orchestra.
He was also a member of the Manhasset Bay Opera.
Donna agreed to move to Port Washington after they were married to join Blankman who had moved there in about 1958, Donna Blankman said.
“He loved being by the water, and just liked that it was a really small community,” Donna Blankman said. “He developed a love for a small town, but it was also close enough to New York City and all the excitement. It had a hometown feel that he loved.”
Blankman served on a number of town and Nassau County boards, including the North Hempstead Planning Board, North Hempstead Housing Authority, the Nassau County Task Force on Young Adult Housing and the Nassau Legislature’s Commission on Revenue Generation and Economic Development.
Blankman was chosen by Gov. George Pataki to serve on the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council.
He was also a member of the county’s Board of Assessors and the county’s planning commission.
Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June 23, 1925, Blankman played music from an early age, taking up the piano and trumpet in school.
Blankman was an Eagle Scout and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award as an adult, at a time when only 800 people in the country had received it, including President Gerald Ford.
“He was very proud of his Eagle Scout work,” Donna Blankman said.
She said he loved to travel, and loved seeing the Long Island Philharmonic and going to the Metropolitan Opera.
“We would go into the city and go to the opera or go to the theater and always have dinner before,” she said. “We really enjoyed that.”
Furthering his writing career, in 2015 Blankman wrote “Hope Can Make it Happen,” a self-published children’s book.
“He was just an amazing man,” Donna Blankman said. “He just kept going and if it was there he would probably try it.”
Donna Blankman said she visited her family doctor 10 months after she and Blankman were married, and he asked if she was trying to keep up with her husband.
“Of course I am because I am his wife,” she said.
The doctor replied, “Don’t. No one can keep up with Howard.”
Along with Donna, Blankman is survived by his children Deborah, Michael, Diana, Matthew and Sarah and her fiancé, David Trzaska; three grandchildren, Hannah, Sam and Alexandra; and his ex-wife, Daisy Adams.
