In Memoriam
Harvey S. Berenson
Harvey Berenson
1964 graduation
Harvey Berenson died on May 13, 2020.
Below are the following:
Obituary
The Oregonian
May 18, 2020
Harvey S. Berenson was born Feb. 11, 1943, and died May 13, 2020. He passed away peacefully at home in New York City after a long battle with leukemia.
Harvey was born in Portland, Ore. He was Student Body President of Wilson High School in Portland, Yale University, class of 1964, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard Law School, Class of 1967, Chairman of the Board of Student Advisors. He received an LLM in Taxation from NYU.
Harvey practiced tax law in New York City for many years. He was a member of four state bars: New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and Kansas.
He was a Managing Partner at FTI Consulting at the time of his death.
We will forever miss our wonderful husband, father, grandfather, and brother. Wife: Ellen, Sons: Alex (Jacqueline) and David (Nomi). Grandchildren: Tobias, Lucy, Roosevelt, Ezra, and Percy. Sister: Janet; Brothers: Jeffrey, James, and Ronald.
Letter from his family
His wife Ellen and sons Alex (Yale '94) and David (Dartmouth '99) sent the following letter:
To our friends and family,
It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that early this morning our beloved husband and father, Harvey, passed away painlessly at home after a lengthy and brave battle with leukemia. Both David and I were at his bedside, and Alex and the four oldest grandchildren were able to see him much of yesterday.
Harvey Berenson
2014 Reunion
Because of the pandemic we are not able to have a proper shiva. Per Harvey's wishes, we will have a memorial in the backyard when we are all able to be together again. And in the meantime, we will update you about a possible brief Zoom service that everyone can attend if they wish.
In lieu of flowers, donations on his behalf can be made to a charity of your choice or at this time of need, City Harvest.
Love,
Ellen, Alex & David
Essay from the 50th Reunion Classbook in 2014
After Yale, I spent three years at Harvard Law School, where I received an LL.B. and met my wife Ellen. We married in 1967 and then spent two years in Lawrence, Kansas. I was an assistant professor of Law at K.U. and worked with inmates in the federal and state prisons.
Ellen and Harvey in 2014
Then off to NYC where we have lived and worked since. I became a tax lawyer, earned an LL.M. in tax, worked in various law firms and for a real estate entrepreneur.
Ultimately, I opened my own business in the 1980's putting together tax deals. Some of the deals did not end well and I went back to practicing law. For most of the last two decades, I have worked as a tax lawyer outside of law firms, first at Ernst & Young and, for the last 8 years, in a group that became the real estate consulting arm of FTI Consulting, Inc. I focus on the taxation of real estate, which is interesting because of the complexity of the deals, the tax issues, and the people who inhabit the real-estate world. Ellen is an antique dealer who now deals privately and over the internet.
We have two sons. Alex (Yale '94) is a bestselling author, married to a psychiatrist, and lives in Garrison, NY overlooking West Point. David (Dartmouth '99) teaches history at Horace Mann School (his and Alex's alma mater}, is married to a litigator, and lives in Brooklyn. David has a son, Tobias, and Alex has a daughter, Lucy, both of whom we see regularly. Ellen and I now live in the middle of NYC in a wonderful brownstone, one of a group of houses known as "Turtle Bay Gardens." We have a small garden which I tend and try to keep beautiful. We moved to NYC almost 20 years ago from Englewood NJ, where we raised Alex and David.
We are generally in good health except for the usual aches and pains of getting older. Ellen has remained just as beautiful and vivacious as when I met her 48 years ago. I have severe glaucoma in my right eye, but it doesn't prevent me from working, gardening, bicycling, skiing and traveling. We spend 6-8 weeks a year traveling and have been to almost 100 countries. (Fortunately, the internet allows me to travel and retain my clients.) I have become a better tax adviser over the years and intend to continue working until I am no longer able. I hope to figure out that day before others do.
As the generations before me, I am worried about the trajectory of our country and the future for my children and grandchildren. I see far more emphasis on "what's in it for me" and less on our collective responsibility for each other. As a society, we appear to be living on our capital, trying to recapture a past that never existed. But I look forward to years to come and it will be fascinating to see what happens and where we go.
My only prediction: Don't count on real tax reform. I never met a person other than a tax lawyer who actually wanted a simple tax code.