Harold Marvin Firestone

Harold Firestone (1923-2020) died just a few days shy of his 97th birthday. He lived a happy and truly contented life and was known to all for his warmth, his genuine charisma, and relentlessly corny humor. Harold was remembered with great fondness by all whom he touched. He was born to Lena (nee Weisz) and Max Firestone, who emigrated from Hungary, and was raised in Sharon, Pennsylvania. As a teenager, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

After serving in the Army during World War II, he met his wife Gertrude Munter, whom he adored through their 61 years of marriage. They met playing tennis at a city park; he said it was a “love game”! They had a remarkable relationship and even a special, coded whistle to find each other. Through the years, Harold used the same whistle to hail his children. It was the family “call”.

He went to work in his father-in-law’s business in Cleveland and in 1963, Harold, his family, his in-laws, his wife’s sister, and their family all moved together to Hollywood, Florida, where Harold’s mother had lived. Once, while on vacation in Jamaica, his children got a unique sense of their parents’ relationship, when the entire dance floor parted as Harold and Gertrude elegantly floated around the floor as one.

Gertrude passed away in 2009. A few years after, Harold met Roma Bloch on the stairmaster at the gym, and they were wonderful together until her passing in 2018.

Harold is preceded in death by his siblings Elsie Lefkowitz Blake, Edward Firestone, Revella Nosse, Jacquie Firestone, Benjamin Firestone, and Jerome Firestone.

Harold is survived by his three children of whom he was endlessly proud: Murray Firestone (fiancée Nancy Cuppy), Karen Firestone Durfee (Steve), and Dale Firestone (Michele), his three granddaughters , Rachel Firestone Carlson (Don), Jessica Martin (fiancé Felipe Lopes), and Mattison Martin (Tom Tribou) – to whom he was “Poppy” - and his great-granddaughter, Nel Carlson, “Uncle Hal’s” nieces and nephews, Renee Jacobs-Hecht, Sandi Mead, and David Jacobs, whose family lived next door, and were a daily part of his family life and their father, Harold’s brother-in-law Milton Jacobs. Children of his other siblings include Debbie Lantzman, Mark Elliott, Barry Ziskind and James Nosse. He was especially close to the daughters of his big sister Elsie, his nieces, Harriett Fader, Marcia Sanford and Sheila Myers.

One niece aptly described Harold as a quiet gentleman who smiled with his eyes, which seems fitting as an epitaph. He was often found on the golf course and enjoyed the game late into his 80’s. A voracious reader, he was also known for his bi-weekly visits to the library. A man committed to family, he rarely said, “I love you”, but we all knew and felt his love and loved him deeply.

Special thanks to Marie, Michelle, and Priscilla, Harold’s loving and unfailing caregivers. In the time leading up to his passing, Harold told them that he saw his wife; we take comfort in the belief that he and Gertrude are together again. The family will remember Harold together via virtual services and shiva; he will be laid to rest next to his wife at Temple Beth El Memorial Gardens, Davie, FL.