The Eastern Shore lost a dear friend this week. Howard “Howdy” Freedlander passed away recently after living the last few years at Baywoods retirement community in Annapolis. I got to know Howard in the early 2000s when he joined the Board of Eastern Shore Land Conservancy and immediately jumped into a leadership role on the Land Conservation Committee and later on the Development Committee.
As lead staff at ESLC for 30+ years the thing I loved about Howard was his constant attention to fundraising and the Board’s important role in giving and getting. He was always putting his hand up to volunteer for fundraising efforts, or cheerleading for fundraising success at board meetings, or making the extra gift when needed.
In my retirement, I came to know Howard from a very different context. My parents chose Baywoods retirement community in Annapolis on 2023, Howard and Liz’s location since leaving Easton, and Howard was superb in guiding my family through that transition. He helped us with the right questions to ask, negotiation techniques, preferable locations, meal suggestions, and just about everything. Howard and Liz chose Baywoods to be close to kids and grandkids – my parents did the same.
I have also gotten to know Howard through our mutual roles with the Spy.
Howard had incredible courage to write candidly about things like race, privilege, politics, religion, civics, climate change, bad behavior, and history. Howard also wrote often about grieving, the loss of loved ones, transitions, and honoring people on their passing. In these latter pieces, I think Howard was at his best – grappling with his own mortality and exploring the final transition with his readers.
In a recent Spy column Howard quoted Winnie the Pooh, and it sums up perfectly my feelings for Howard in this moment. “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
Goodbye Howard and Godspeed.
Rob Etgen retired in 2021 after a 40-year career in conservation – the last 31 years as President of Eastern Shore Land Conservancy. In retirement Rob is enjoying family and working on global and local sustainability issues with Council Fire consulting out of Annapolis.
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