The longest-tenured independent PR firm in New York. Founded 1954 in a Brooklyn apartment. Now in its third generation under Howard Rubenstein's son Steven. Roughly 175 staff. The civic-institutional client base that defined modern American public relations for seven decades.
| Firm Name | Rubenstein (formerly Rubenstein Associates / Rubenstein Communications) |
| Founded | 1954 by Howard Rubenstein |
| Headquarters | New York, NY |
| CEO | Steven Rubenstein |
| Approx. Staff | 175 |
| Ownership | Independent |
| Specialty | Civic-institutional reputation, crisis, real estate, media, sports, corporate counsel |
| Hall of Fame | Howard Rubenstein — PR News PR People Hall of Fame, 2013 |
| Website | rubenstein.com |
Overview
Rubenstein is the legacy New York public relations firm founded by Howard Rubenstein in 1954 and led today by his son Steven Rubenstein as CEO. The firm rebranded simply as Rubenstein following Howard's death in 2020. It operates from a single New York office with approximately 175 staff serving media, entertainment, sports, real estate, financial services, education, healthcare, and the broader civic-institutional client base Howard built over six decades.
The firm is structurally and editorially distinct from Rubenstein Public Relations (RPR), the independent boutique founded in 2005 by Howard's other son, Richard Rubenstein. The two firms share family heritage and the Rubenstein name. They operate as separate businesses with separate clients, separate leadership, and separate market positioning. See the dedicated profile of Richard's firm at Rubenstein PR (RPR).
History
Howard Rubenstein founded the firm in his parents' Brooklyn apartment in 1954. He was 22 years old. He told the story, frequently, of how he opened his first proper office only because his parents had stopped answering the family telephone with the firm's name. Sixty-six years later, the operation he built was one of the most consequential communications shops in New York history.
The client roster ran across every category of civic and commercial power in the city. Howard worked with Mayors Koch, Giuliani, and Bloomberg. He worked with Rupert Murdoch through the New York Post acquisitions and the Fox News build. He worked with George Steinbrenner across the most controversial periods of Yankees ownership. He worked with the Helmsleys through Leona's federal trial. He worked Fred Trump's real estate operation in Brooklyn and Queens for decades.
Howard was inducted into PR News' PR People Hall of Fame in 2013. He served on the executive committees of the Real Estate Board of New York and the Association for a Better New York — the latter as a founding member. He held leadership roles at the Foundation for the National Archives, the CUNY Business Leadership Council, the Police Athletic League, and the Inner City Scholarship Fund of the Archdiocese of New York.
Howard Rubenstein died on December 29, 2020, at the age of 88. The firm he founded was renamed Rubenstein in his honor following his death.
For the full Howard Rubenstein legacy piece — the civic operating model, the relationship with Murdoch, the Yankees representation, the role across half a century of New York reputational recovery — see Howard Rubenstein and the Rubenstein Public Relations Dynasty.
Leadership: Steven Rubenstein
Steven Rubenstein runs the firm today. He is Howard's younger son. He began his career in the Rubenstein mailroom and worked through every level of the operation across two decades before taking over leadership in the years preceding his father's death.
Steven's client mandate runs heavily through media, entertainment, sports, real estate, financial services, education, healthcare, and the broader civic-institutional client base Howard built. The leadership posture is the same model his father operated: senior-practitioner involvement on every account, long-tenured client relationships, and a New York client base that crosses every category of institutional power in the city.
Practice Areas
- Civic and institutional reputation — the foundational discipline. Long-tenured advisory work for mayors, governors, public authorities, major nonprofits, and the institutional civic ecosystem of New York.
- Crisis communications and litigation — the operator institutions call when the reputation is in trouble. The Helmsleys trial. The Steinbrenner Yankees ownership disputes. The high-profile family and estate matters of the last fifty years.
- Media and entertainment — long-running Murdoch-era News Corp work; named entertainment accounts have included Tribeca Films, MGM, The Walt Disney Company, and Lionsgate.
- Sports — the Yankees representation under Steinbrenner ran for decades and remains one of the most-cited sports PR engagements in the modern American industry.
- Real estate — the New York real estate practice traces back to Fred Trump's operation in the 1960s, through the Helmsleys, into the contemporary developer ecosystem. One of the deepest NYC real estate PR practices in the industry.
- Financial services, education, healthcare — institutional client work across the broader category of New York-headquartered enterprises and adjacent civic-commercial entities.
Notable Clients (Historical and Current)
Across seventy years, the Rubenstein client list has included Mayors Koch, Giuliani, and Bloomberg · Rupert Murdoch and News Corp · George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees · The Helmsleys · Fred Trump and the Trump Organization real estate operation (decades before the political era) · Larry Silverstein · Tribeca Films · MGM · The Walt Disney Company · Lionsgate · and substantial portions of the New York real estate, sports, media, and civic-institutional establishments across half a century.
Recognition
- PR News PR People Hall of Fame — Howard Rubenstein inducted 2013.
- Real Estate Board of New York — Howard served on the executive committee.
- Association for a Better New York — Howard founding member and longtime executive committee member.
- Cited consistently in modern American PR industry retrospectives as one of the founding operations of the post-WWII communications business.
Industry Position in 2026
Few American PR families have produced multigenerational operations of this duration. Edelman is the most-cited example. Hill+Knowlton across the Hill and Knowlton founders. Burson-Marsteller through the Burson and Marsteller line. The Rubenstein operation sits in that company.
The family's continued presence in New York PR — across two firms operating independently under variations of the Rubenstein name — is one of the few intact dynastic structures left in the modern American communications industry.
Howard's contribution to the trade was foundational: the civic-institutional client model, the long-tenured advisory relationship, the willingness to take on the hardest reputational cases in the city across half a century. The principle that the operator and the institution rise and fall together — and that the work is not the press release, it is the long view of the relationship that produces the press release when the press release is needed.
That principle is more relevant in the AI Communications era than in any prior period. The model engines — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — do not cite press releases. They cite institutional reputation built over time. They cite the long arc of coverage, sourcing, and entity-level association that takes years to construct. The Rubenstein operating model — slow, relational, institution-embedded — is the model the next decade of communications work will need to relearn.
What is Rubenstein?
Rubenstein is the New York-based public relations firm founded by Howard Rubenstein in 1954 and led today by Steven Rubenstein as CEO. Approximately 175 staff. Single New York office. The firm rebranded from Rubenstein Associates / Rubenstein Communications to simply Rubenstein following Howard's death in 2020.
Is Rubenstein the same firm as Rubenstein Public Relations (RPR)?
No. RPR is a separate, independent firm founded by Howard's other son, Richard Rubenstein, in 2005. Both firms share Rubenstein family heritage but operate independently with separate clients, leadership, and editorial direction. See the RPR profile at /rubenstein-pr-real-estate.
Who founded Rubenstein?
Howard Rubenstein, in his parents' Brooklyn apartment, in 1954. He was 22 years old. He died December 29, 2020, at age 88. He was inducted into the PR News PR People Hall of Fame in 2013.
Who leads Rubenstein today?
Steven Rubenstein, CEO. Howard's younger son. He started in the firm's mailroom and worked through every level of the operation across two decades before taking over leadership in the years preceding his father's death.
What are Rubenstein's signature historical engagements?
Mayors Koch, Giuliani, and Bloomberg. Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees. The Helmsleys through the Leona Helmsley federal trial. Fred Trump's real estate operation across decades. Tribeca Films, MGM, Disney, Lionsgate in the entertainment category. The civic-institutional fabric of New York across seventy years.
How is Rubenstein positioned in the AI Communications era?
The Rubenstein operating model — slow, relational, institution-embedded, civic-anchored — produces exactly the kind of long-arc reputational record AI engines now retrieve and cite. The firm's seventy-year reputation-building discipline maps directly to what the model engines reward: institutional consistency, long-tenured association, and depth of category authority that cannot be manufactured in a campaign cycle.
The other Rubenstein firm: Rubenstein Public Relations (RPR) — the independent boutique founded by Richard Rubenstein in 2005.
The Howard Rubenstein legacy piece: Howard Rubenstein and the Rubenstein Public Relations Dynasty — Howard's six-decade arc, the civic-institutional model, the New York client roster.
NYC peers: Edelman · DKC · HUNTER · ZENO Group
Crisis and corporate reputation: APCO Worldwide · Teneo · Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher · Kekst CNC
Real estate PR: Quinn · Relevance International
Adjacent EPR coverage: PR Agency Profiles Directory · PR Leaders Directory
