Richard E. Altman

https://client.tribucast.com/tcid/8178346320 

Richard E. Altman

Loudonville, NY – Richard E. Altman, 68, passed away at the home of his brother in Loudonville on Saturday March 26, 2022 after a long illness.

Rich, devoted and loving son of the late Mildred and Arthur Altman and a loving ‘kid brother’ of Fred for 68 years.  He was also a loving cousin, uncle to Stephen, Eric, Gregory and David and a lifelong friend to a close circle with whom he shared many cherished life memories.

He had boundless compassion and empathy for people of all walks, faiths, races and genders based on their common humanity and without regard to individual differences.  He was the embodiment of these traits through his service to and with others.  You don’t get to be the first ‘male’ to be honored at the annual awards dinner of the Democratic ‘Women’ of Sullivan County without these characteristics being noticed.

He had a unique talent, largely self-taught, with a little help from the City University of New York for embracing and expressing the universal languages of word and music.  He made them both a vocation and an avocation by melding these disciplines into his writings and his advice and counsel to others both professionally and personally as an accomplished public relations and travel and tourism consultant.

His passions ran deep.  There was no more inspired or insightful authority on such diverse subjects as Abraham Lincoln, James Bond, Mohamed Ali and John, Paul, George and Ringo on which he possessed not only a wealth of fact and trivia but also a modest array of scholarly publication.  He had the pleasure to meet, interview and photograph the ‘Fab Four’ and ‘The Greatest’ among many others on a number of occasions.  He wrote so much about Honest Abe and James Bond, that you would think he met them too, even though one was a fictional character and the other died four score and ‘eight’ years before Rich was born.

He also had a passion for the culinary arts and was an accomplished chef of third generation tradition in his family.  He would modestly prefer to say he was just a ‘foodie’ but he has inspired and imparted to a fourth generation some of our favorite tastes and pleasures so they will live on at many more festive meals.

Through it all he was not addicted to personal aggrandizement and his character was always grounded in the tenets attributed to another of his heroes of both fictional portrayal and of a special person in his life: ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’.  That one’s for you Dad, he would have said.

Rich lived by the spiritual principles of his faith and with the humanity attributable to a Saint.  His memory shall be a blessing to all who share it.

The funeral service for Rich will be held this Tuesday, March 29th at 1:00 PM. If you plan on attending in person, please plan on arriving at least 30 minutes prior. The location is:
Riverside-Nassau North Chapels
55 North Station Plaza
Great Neck, NY 11021
Parking is available across the street from the chapel – please check in with the valet in the lot.
For those who will be attending in person and wish to say a few words, you can let us know at the chapel tomorrow.
For those who will be joining us remotely, here is the weblink (you can click on it anytime):
https://client.tribucast.com/tcid/8178346320
When you open this web link, you will see on the web page that you may sign the guest book if you wish.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Richard E. Altman, please visit our floral store.