Howard Gittis, 73, lawyer, businessman

Howard Gittis, 73, vice chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. in New York, former senior partner with Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen in Philadelphia, and a major political adviser and donor, died Sunday of heart failure at his home in Manhattan.

In a statement, company chairman Ronald O. Perelman said: "This is a tragic loss for all his family at MacAndrews & Forbes. Howard was my closest friend and most trusted adviser. He was a man of great wisdom, integrity and humanity."

Mr. Gittis served on the board of most of MacAndrews' companies, including Revlon, Panavision, and Scientific Games.

He had previously been a partner with Wolf Block for 23 years and was a former resident of Elkins Park.

At Wolf Block, he served on the firm's executive committee and was chairman for three terms. He believed law firms needed to operate more like big business, he told a reporter in 1991. He set up specialized practices in areas such as environmental and health care law, and opened a regional office in Florida.

He also had a magnet for talent, said Mark Aronchick, a former associate at Wolf Block and a former city solicitor. Everyone wanted to learn from him, he said, and he cared about the associates and their families. "He believed that if your path crossed his, he had to help you," Aronchick said.

Mr. Gittis, who was chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in the early 1980s, encouraged lawyers to become involved in the bar association, Aronchick said, and believed law firms should have a role in public life and politics.

Mr. Gittis was Frank L. Rizzo's attorney in 1976 during a failed attempt by a citizens' committee to recall the mayor, and he was a major campaign contributor and an adviser to Mayor William J. Green 3d. Since 2004, he had donated more than $240,000 to Democratic and Republican candidates and committees, and was New York finance chairman for John McCain's campaign for president.

Mr. Gittis graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia and earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Penn.

In 2004, he contributed $5 million to Penn's law school. Gittis Hall and the Gittis Center for Clinical Legal Studies at Penn are named in his honor. "Penn Law has been the engine driving my career," he said in a 2004 interview. "It has meant everything to me."

Though he left Philadelphia to conquer Wall Street, Mr. Gittis remained loyal to his birthplace and its institutions, Aronchick said. He served on the board of Temple University for 31 years, including five as board chairman. Temple's student center is named for him.

Mr. Gittis maintained vacation homes in Southampton, N.Y., and Palm Beach, Fla. He owned Amece restaurant in Palm Beach and Savannah's restaurant in Southampton. He was a golfer.

He is survived by daughters Caroline Werther, Hope Sheft, Marjorie Katz and Emily Lambert; a sister; seven grandchildren; and his former wives, Sondra Gittis and Lynette Harding Gittis.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. today at Central Synagogue, 55th Street and Lexington Avenue, New York City. Burial will be at 3 p.m. today in Roosevelt Memorial Park, Trevose.