Late USC law professor remembered for his Jewish faith, generosity and taste in wine

A longtime law professor at the University of South Carolina has died.

Howard Stravitz, 73, had been a USC law professor since 1983 and a figure in the local Jewish community, according to his online obituary. He died at home on April 30, according to a tribute on USC’s website. Stravitz will be buried following a private funeral in his family cemetery in Florida, according to USC’s website.

Stravitz, a New Jersey native, moved to Columbia in the early ‘80s. He was one of USC’s most senior faculty members, according to USC’s website.

A longtime friend of Stravitz’s, Columbia psychologist Fred Medway, remembers him as a “Renaissance person” who excelled in the legal field, was a “master chef,” played offensive line on his high school football team, volunteered for charity and had an impeccable taste for wine, especially French wines.

“He literally knew more about wine than most people in the United States,” Medway said.

Medway remembers Stravitz often donating his $100-plus bottles of wine anytime there was a charity conducting a silent auction. He remembers Stravitz helping raise money for charity and serving a term as president of Beth Shalom Synagogue.

Stravitz had “very strong faith in the Jewish faith and not only in terms of his belief system, but in terms of his action,” Medway said. “Howard was a very charitable person, and that really came out of his faith.”

Columbia, S.C., Mayor Steve Benjamin, who told The State he had been friends with Stravitz since 1991, offered his public condolences.

“Professor Howard Stravitz, of blessed memory, was such a good man and incredibly fun and (had a) unique personality,” Benjamin wrote in Stravitz’s online obituary. “He will be sorely missed.”