User:Deisenbe/sandbox/Harold

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Article for deletion/dated|page=Harold F. Reichenthal|timestamp=20220211233022|year=2022|month=February|day=11|substed=yes|help=off}}

Harold Francis Reichenthal (June 1, 1921–October 9, 2021), was a local celebrity in the Albany, New York, area. He moved from academia to free-lance work providing financial services. Along with speaking before many groups without charge, he hosted Dollars and Sense, a TV and radio talk show, taking listener calls and giving financial advice. He was a member of then-governor Mario Cuomo's team creating the New York State Lottery.

Early life
Harold Reichenthal was born in the Bronx on June 1, 1921 and was the son of Charles (1889-1928) and Helen Sattler Reichenthal (1897-1932). Charles was an immigrant tailor and fashion artist from Galicia, Australia. He was killed in a car crash after a tire exploded on a drive to Miami in 1928. Helen and Eugene, Harold's brother, were seriously injured. Helen remarried in 1931, but died in childbirth of Harold and Eugene's half-sister. Eugene and Harold rejected an adoption offer and instead lived alone in Flushing, New York.

Education and military service
Reichenthal graduated from Bayside High School, in Queens, in 1940. He took up gymnastics and was selected to train with the US Men's Olympic Team. World War II caused the Olympics to be suspended, and he studied at Ithaca College. Reichenthal joined the US Army Air Corps in 1942 as a pilot, bombardier, and navigator. During his training he met Valerie Williams. He served in the 13th Force Philippine Campaign and achieved the rank of first lieutenant. He married Valerie in 1945 after he returned from active duty, and remained married until her death in 2014. They had three children.

Academic career
Following the war, along with 6 years in the Army Air Force Reserve, Reichenthal finished his B.S. at Ithaca College. According to the yearbook his degree was in drama, but he always described it as "English and Speech". He participated in numerous play productions, including Androcles and the Lion, and was part of Theta Alpha Phi. He earned an M.S. in public school administration at the New York State College for Teachers at Albany (Albany State). He was an English teacher in Mayfield, New York from 1948 to 1953. In 1953 the Rensselaer County Technical Institute, later Hudson Valley Community College, opened; he was its first English professor, and soon after, its first Dean of Students. He claimed that he had been the first Dean of Students at Hudson Valley Community College. He later claimed credit for pushing for the new name, inspired no doubt by the earlier Mohawk Valley Community College, but the change in name was after Harold's departure.

Financial services
Reichenthal took a summer job selling aluminum. He was very successful and progressed to selling life insurance; he resigned his position at Hudson Valley Technical Institute in 1954. In 1955 he joined the Home Life Insurance Company (today part of The Phoenix Companies), and was soon one of their most successfully salesmen nationally. Life insurance underwriting expanded to become financial planning, He was a success as a lecturer on financial topics, and he saw the world while a paid lecturer on cruise ships.

Reichenthal's first company, of which he was the President, was Harold F. Reichenthal Financial Advisors Inc.; he talked on "new tax laws and investing" in 1986. In 1987 he incorporated Reichenthal, Family & Agel, with office at 24 Computer Drive West, Colonie, New York, which became one of the most successful such firms in New York's Capital District. He served as a member of then-Governor Mario Cuomo's team responsible for developing the New York State Lottery. He hosted both radio and television programs named "Dollars and Sense," on which he gave financial advice.

A fan of ballet, he was a life sponsor of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He served as president and legislative chairman of the Boght Hills Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), president of the North Colonie PTA Council, the Albany Heart Association, the Albany Life Underwriters Association, the Sacandaga Men's Teachers Association, the Fulton County District Teacher's Association, and the Mayfield Central School Teachers Association. He served as national vice chairman of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. He served two terms as president of the Albany County Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Foundation, followed by the presidency of the Capital District Association and a member of the Board of Directors of the national association.

After his retirement in the late 1980s, Reichenthal and Valerie moved to Boca Raton, Florida. He lived there until he was 95. He contributed generously to charities, among them the Jewish Federation of South Florida.