Jonathan P. Baird

While it seems almost unbelievable to me, I knew Howard for over 35 years. When I started as a staff attorney at New Hampshire Legal Assistance in the late 1980’s, Howard worked as a vocational expert in the Manchester NH hearing office of Social Security Administration.

Back then, all hearings were in person and everyone, including vocational experts, appeared at the hearing. The Manchester hearing office had jurisdiction for both New Hampshire and Vermont. Hearings that I attended were held in Manchester, Littleton, White River Jct., Woodstock, Franconia and Brattleboro. I got to know Howard in hearings and in waiting rooms before the hearing. We both were talkers.

It was an entirely different cast of characters then. There was Judge Wilkin, Donnelly, Milne and Herman. Then there was Judge Harap, Hoban, Mason, Gormley, Fallon, Klingebiel and Kleinfeld. All these judges have either retired or passed away.

When I told Judge Paul Martin who has been Chief Judge in Manchester for a long time that Howard had died, he told me that Howard was “the gold standard in vocational experts”. I would agree with Paul’s assessment and I think that very high assessment of Howard’s professionalism was widely shared. Judges and lawyers were universally happy to have an expert of Howard’s high caliber.

Howard was always prepared. He could back up his opinions. He brought a wealth of experience to his job. He was eminently fair and he played it down the middle. I knew he had empathy for claimants but he took the job of being an impartial expert very seriously.

We had some funny experiences back in the old days. I remember doing hearings with Howard back in the Continental 93 Hotel in Littleton in their freezing conference rooms adjacent to the hotel. Witnesses testified through chattering teeth.

After I became an ALJ, Howard and I reconnected. He started doing hearings in my home office in Lawrence Mass. Instead of being the representative, I had the experience of working with him as the judge. Through the course of many hearings we got to know each other much better.

There are subtleties to vocational expert testimony. Howard was a sly fox. He knew the ins and outs and he knew how to be an effective witness.

Howard and I bonded over both of us being Jewish even though neither of us were religious. He once used a yiddish word: rachmones. It impressed me and it is funny because I always thought the word described him. Rachmones is a very Jewish word. It translates literally as “compassion”. It also has connotations of soulfulness and wisdom.

In his book, The Joys of Yiddish, Leo Rosten said this about rachmones:

“This quintessential word lies at the heart of Jewish thought and feeling. All of Judaism’s philosophy, ethics, learning, education, hierarchy of values, are enhanced with a sense of and heightened sensitivity to rachmones…”

Howard’s soulfulness was reflected in his music and his politics. I went to see him and his pal Jock Irvine (also a former hearing reporter at Social Security) play at Hermano’s restaurant in Concord. They could get down and play and they were frequent performers.

I was trying to convince Howard to leave Florida and return to New Hampshire. The combination of climate change superstorms and Florida’s far right politics was getting to him. He told me he was putting his condo in St. Petersburg on the market. He had told me about Fever Beach, a new novel by Carl Hiaasen. It is a very funny takedown of Florida’s right wing nuttiness. He and I both liked Hiaasen.

His plan to move north got short-circuited as time ran out. Howard knew the Granite State well, both the good and the bad. He had lived in Rochester NH before he moved to Concord. New Hampshire is such a small world that it turned out we both knew a long-time Rochester state representative, Sandy Keans. I had worked closely with Sandy when I had worked as the legal aid lobbyist in the NH state legislature.

Howard was a strong progressive. He suggested books for me including The Last Holiday A Memoir by Gil Scott Heron. We both loved Gil’s music and I reminisced with Howard about seeing Gil play in Boston. Howard was open-minded, anti-racist and anti-fascist.

Howard had vast musical knowledge and he was very supportive of young musicians. I used to send him videos of my son Josh playing and he was enthusiastic and encouraging.

It is very hard for me to accept that he is no longer with us. Howard died on June 3. Judge Eric Eklund, a former colleague of mine in Lawrence sent Howard this note:

“Howard I hope you remember me we did 100 cases together back when I was stationed in Lawrence. It was always a tremendous pleasure working with you. And I both enjoyed our conversations and our resolution of cases. Whether you believe it or not, I can still hear your voice in my ears as if we were in the courtroom just yesterday ….I want you to know that I will be thinking of you and it has been one of the joys of my professional life to work with you.”

Howard will be missed. As anyone who understands Social Security law knows, vocational experts play a critical role in hearings. Howard was a true public servant and he performed with distinction. He was both a great friend and colleague. He made a positive difference in this world.