HOWARD TEICH

MY MISSION IS TO DREAM OF AND CREATE A CONTEXT OF JUSTICE AND TOLERANCE, AND INSPIRE EVERYONE WITH A SPIRIT OF SPIRITUALITY AND EXCELLENCE.

Biographical Sketch

Howard Teich has a wide-ranging background in business, civic, and social interests, and has participated actively in both the New York and National arena.  He is an activist and has taken a pragmatic view of the importance of involvement to better our society, to which he has devoted the great majority of his time. 

Mr. Teich is President of The Howard Teich Network, as well as a practicing attorney in New York City (1981-date). Previously, he served as Associate Publisher of Firehouse Magazine (1975-1980), Law Secretary to New York State Supreme Court Justice Martin Evans (1973-1975), and Legislative Counsel to State Senator Emanuel Gold (1971-1972).  He published his first book, HEAR OUR VOICE ISRAEL:  Standing Up for Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem in 2019, updated 2023, and has written a multitude of articles over the years. 

He is Founder and co-Chair of New Democratic Dimensions, a civic and political organization, as well as a supporter of local and national political candidates; a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater NY Chamber of Commerce; a Board of Directors’ member of the National Action Network, a national social justice organization; a Board member of Ecominga, an organization concerned with sustaining the environmental  diversity in Ecuador; and proud of his past involvement with the All-Stars Project, an organization for development through performance of inner-city youth, where he helped launch their Together and Give Back Initiative. 

 Mr. Teich is the Founding Chair of the Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative (BJHI), the Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative (MJHI) and The Bronx Jewish Historical Initiative (BxJHI), and of their respective Jewish Halls of Fame, as he saw the need to create a populist history of the New York Jewish community to preserve and tell the world of its extraordinary achievements within the freedom offered in America, He serves on the Advisory Board of the New York Board of Rabbis, and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the American Friends of ARIEL University in Judea and Samaria, Israel.  He also Chairs the NYC Jewish History and Heritage Map Project, which published the first map of its kind, and as co-chair of  the East Side WWI Centennial Commemoration and the East Side Women’s Veterans Ceremony.

 Mr. Teich is a past Board member of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian NY;  served as a member of the Smithsonian’s National/ New York Regional Council; as a member and past-Chair of the National Advisory Council of the Association on American Indian Affairs, having previously been a member of its Board of Directors; and as an past Advisory Board member of the Soldiers, Sailors, Coast Guard and Airman’s Club of NYC.  He was past Chair of Arts Horizons’ Leroy Neiman Center in Harlem, and a former member of the Boys’ Choir of Harlem Board of Directors.

 He served as President of the New York Met Region of American Jewish Congress, and as a past National Vice-President and past member of its National Governing Council.  He is a former Board member and past Vice-President of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and former Co-Chair and now Chair Emeritus of its Jewish Heritage NY project.  He served on the Board of the Salute to Israel Parade Committee, the Board of the Brooklyn Jewish Film Festival, and was Chairman of New York’s New Leadership of Israel Bonds. 

 He was an appointed member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) of the U.S. Small Business Administration and was the appointed representative of New York City Controller Bill Thompson to the Board of Trustees of the Wildlife Conservation Society.  He was an appointed member of the NYS Matrimonial Commission, and member of the Coalition on Judicial Justice, and he was appointed twice by Mayor David Dinkins to serve as a member of his selection panels for his representatives to the Board of Education, and as a member of the Mayor’s Commission on Protocol. 

 He co-chaired the Crosswalks Cable TV’s NYC Public School Board Elections Forum ’93 and served as Alternate Delegate to the National Fire Protection Association’s Safety to Life Committee.  He has been a member of the American Bar Association, the NYS Bar Association, and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, having served as an appointed member of its Committee on International Arms Control and Security Affairs.  He founded the 3I Council on Human Rights.  He served as a Trustee of the New York State Democratic Committee, and as a member of the Democratic National Committee’s National Finance Council.

 He has supported and been involved in a variety of women’s, environmental, intergroup relations, and voter participation causes, including his efforts initiating legislation to create Democracy Day in America, which he had introduced in the U.S. Senate and in the House of Representatives by 100 co-sponsors in 1991, and again in the US Senate in 1997.  He has appeared on radio and cable TV shows, having served as co-host of a weekly civic issues show in NYC for two years.

 He received the “Robert Briscoe Award” from the Emerald Isle Immigration Society, 1999 Rev. Martin Luther King “Living the Dream” Award from Governor George Pataki, 2000 “Spirit of New York” Award from Councilwoman Una Clarke, 2001 “Jewish Heritage Award” from Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden, 2008 “Bridge Building Award” from the All-Stars Project , and 2009 NYC City Council Jewish Heritage Award..

He lives in New York City.  He graduated from Boston University School of Law (J.D.1970), and the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.1967).  He is a three-time NYC marathon runner and finisher, and has been listed in the editions of Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World since 1999.