Howard A. Stonesifer of Sun Valley, Idaho, died Sept. 7, 2009, in Boise, Idaho. He was 68.
The only son of Gertrude and Carroll Stonesifer, Mr. Stonesifer was born Feb. 27, 1941, in Baltimore, Md. As a young boy, he moved to Clearwater Beach, Fla. During his childhood, he excelled as a varsity tennis player, Eagle Scout, Sea Scout and sailor. He also took part in a pioneering group that used early scuba gear to explore the underwater caves and sinkholes of Florida's rivers.
Mr. Stonesifer attended the University of Florida's School of Journalism and was a recipient of a William Randolph Hearst Foundation Award. Following graduation, he was awarded an RCA-NBC Journalism Fellowship and attended Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, from which he received his master's degree. As a journalist with UPI in Chicago, he covered the Robert Kennedy presidential campaign, the assassination of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King and the 1968 Democratic National Convention. In the 1970s Mr. Stonesifer worked for J. Walter Thompson and RJR-Nabisco Brands as a senior executive, specializing in corporate communications in New York City. In 1983, he started Stonesifer Communications and continued to focus on corporate communications for RJR-Nabisco and International Paper.
Known as a lover of boats, fishing and American fiction, Howard Stonesifer will be greatly missed by his family and friends. He is survived by his wife, Deborah; children, Mark of Sugarloaf Key, Fla., Erik of San Anselmo, Calif., and Caroline Searle of San Francisco, Calif.; and grandsons, John Walker and Nicholas Amir Stonesifer. He is predeceased by his daughter Mary-Carroll Walker.
There will be a small memorial in the spring when his ashes will be spread into the Gulf Stream off the coast of Florida.
