Obituary: Howard Halpern

Howard Halpern, 85, passed away on Thursday Nov. 20, 2025.

Howard was born in Lakewood, N.J., on Nov. 15, 1940. As a teenager, Howard moved to Miami where he began his career in the food industry selling produce to the original Burger King.

In 1966, Howard moved to Atlanta and, in 1972, started Halpern’s Gourmet Grocer, a first-of-its kind bustling restaurant and butcher shop that set the course for mall food court concepts nationwide.

In 1983, Howard pivoted from retail to wholesale and started Buckhead Beef with only five butchers and a dream. He grew the company to one of the nation’s top privately owned meat purveyors supplying major restaurants and events, including the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Buckhead Beef was acquired by Sysco in 1999 but Howard was not done yet.

He founded Halpern’s Steak and Seafood in 2005 which focused on white tablecloth fine dining and customer service unlike anything in the industry before. Howard was one of the first adopters of new technology to increase quality and efficiency, setting the industry standards of today. Halpern’s was acquired by Gordon Food Services in 2015. Howard tried to retire but always found himself drawn back and continued to work for Halpern’s until his final weeks and will live on as a legend in the industry.

Howard was also a prominent philanthropist in the Atlanta and Boca communities. Some of his major causes were the Lynne and Howard Halpern Chair in Head and Neck Cancer Research at Emory Winship Cancer Center, The Lynne and Howard Halpern Endowment at The Temple, which led the charge for the restoration of their organ, and JARC Florida, an organization that provides supported independent living for adults with developmental disabilities. Howard was a strong believer that it is not enough to simply donate money, he championed the Atlanta Meals on Wheels program over 30 years ago, served as the president of JARC for two years, and, most recently, was awarded a multimillion dollar grant to provide scholarships to residents at JARC.

Howard is predeceased by his parents, Sydelle and Herman, and his sister, Elizabeth.

Howard is survived by his wife Lynne, children, Wendy (Adam), Kirk (Lori), Doug, and Tiffany (Darren), grandchildren, Harris (Skyla), Adam, Erica (Ryan), Ben (Carlin), Allison, and Jesse, his great-granddaughter, Jollie, his sisters, Lorriane and Rowena, his goddaughters, Lucy (Chadwick) and Maddy (Alan), his great-godchildren, Chadwick, Harper, Collier, Lucy, Bo, and David, his devoted friend, Knox, and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to The Lynne and Howard Halpern Endowment at The Temple or to JARC Florida.

The funeral was held on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, at The Temple at 11 a.m., followed by a burial at Arlington Cemetery with Rabbi Peter Berg officiating. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999