Physician; tobacco litigation lead plaintiff · Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Howard Engle
Pediatrician and lead plaintiff in Florida's landmark Engle tobacco class action; born on a Pewaukee farm
Net worth
$2,500,000
July 22, 2009
About
Howard Aaron Engle was born on a Pewaukee farm to Eastern European Jewish immigrants, the area's only Jewish family, and became the pediatrician whose name still defines American tobacco litigation.
He earned undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, served in Army public health in occupied Germany after World War II, then built a nearly fifty-year pediatric neurology practice in Miami Beach, including an integrated Liberty City office and a turn as chief of pediatrics at Mount Sinai Medical Center.
A two-pack-a-day smoker since medical school, he joined a 1994 Florida class action as lead plaintiff for attorneys Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt, whose children he had treated, hoping the case would warn others off nicotine. In July 2000 a Miami jury hit cigarette makers with roughly $145 billion in punitive damages, then one of the largest awards in U.S. history. Appeals courts later decertified the class as too sprawling, but the Florida Supreme Court preserved individual Engle progeny suits that still populate Florida dockets. A May 2001 ruling let the companies post a $2 billion appeal bond, of which about $709 million was guaranteed to plaintiffs; Engle's personal cut was reported in the hundreds of thousands.
He died in Miami Beach on July 22, 2009, of COPD and lymphoma at eighty-nine, still smoking until shortly before hospice. The Pewaukee farm kid who warned patients not to smoke never fully quit himself; the docket that bears his name outlived him.
Notable facts
Born Howard Aaron Engle on September 11, 1919, on a Pewaukee farm; earned undergraduate and M.D. degrees at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Served as lead plaintiff in the 1994 Florida smokers' class action; a Miami jury awarded roughly $145 billion in punitive damages in July 2000, and Engle progeny suits continue in Florida courts.
Died in Miami Beach on July 22, 2009, of COPD and lymphoma at age 89; he continued smoking until shortly before entering hospice care.
What questions can this profile answer
- What makes Howard Engle notable?
- Howard Aaron Engle was born on a Pewaukee farm to Eastern European Jewish immigrants, the area's only Jewish family, and became the pediatrician whose name still defines American tobacco litigation. He earned undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, served in Army public health in…
- What is Howard Engle's estimated net worth?
- Howard Engle's estimated net worth is $2,500,000 as of 2009-07-22.