Howard Bauman, an advertising executive who spent decades of his life as a member and mentor for the Troop 10 Boy Scouts of America of Great Neck, died last Tuesday just a few days after he was honored at the troop’s100-year celebration brunch at Leonard’s Palazzo in Great Neck. He was 95.
His son, Andy Bauman, said his father had a knack for doing the right thing and positively influencing the lives of those around him.
“We have had so many former scouts, now adults, come up and just say what a difference he made in their lives in giving them direction,” Bauman said. “He wanted to do the right thing, and he pretty much always knew what the right thing was.”
Howard Bauman was born in Manhattan on June 24, 1920 and attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.
He went on to graduate with an art degree from City College of New York.
Shortly after joining the National Guard in 1941, Bauman enlisted into the Army Air Forces in 1943 as a staff sergeant during World War II.
He was stationed on various islands in the Pacific, including New Guinea, Guam, and the Phillipines, designing airfield strips for landing planes.
While in Australia on leave from the Army in 1944, he met his future wife, then Joy Hodgett.
On Dec. 1, 1946, they were married in San Francisco.
Joy said the time between 1944 and 1946 was filled with “a lot of slow communication by mail until he returned at the end of the war.”
The couple lived for small periods in the Bronx, then in Bayside, finally settling in Great Neck in 1955, where Joy still lives today.
Joy said her husband was involved with Troop 10 since their oldest son, Lawrence, became a scout in 1961.
In 1963, Bauman became the scoutmaster for Troop 10 and remained involved with the scouts until his death, holding positions as the commissioner and most recently the troop’s publicist.
While dedicating years of time to Troop 10, Bauman also worked for Miller Advertising Agency, an advertising firm in Manhattan, for more than 40 years until retiring seven years ago when he was 88.
His wife said his artistic interests and talents got him into the advertising industry.
When asked why he did not retire earlier, his son said, Bauman would respond “What else would I do?”
In addition to his wife and two sons, Bauman is survived by a daughter, Elizabeth, and four grandchildren.
A service was held last Friday at Riverside Nassau-North Chapel in Great Neck.
