RESNIK-Paul. 64. Died at his home in Santa Fe, NM, on May 20, 2002 from esophageal cancer. Mr. Resnik was born February 12, 1938 and grew up in Stamford, CT. He was the son of Dr. William Resnik, a well-known cardiologist, and Lorraine Smith Resnik, a musicologist. He is survived by a sister, Kate Resnik Adler, a retired psychologist, of Easton, MD. Mr. Resnik graduated from Brooks School, Yale College and Harvard Law School. He also attended the London School of Economics. In his early career he worked for the Agency for International Development, U.S.State Department, serving in Washington, DC and Uruguay. Later he was a corporate lawyer for ITT in the U.S. and Europe. He also founded The Wine Bar in New York City which he modeled after similar places in Paris. On the basis of his own experience he wrote a book called “The Small Business Bible,” which was subsequently translated into several different languages. He then incorporated the principles described in “The Small Business Bible” into a joint project with Yale University to help inner-city kids think and express themselves. Mr. Resnik moved from New York to Santa Fe in 1998 and immersed himself in an array of local artistic and philanthropic activities. Among the institutions he supported were the School for American Research and the Southwest Literary Center. In recognition of his contributions, the Southwest Literary Center has announced that a Paul Resnik Narrative Center will be established in his name. He was deeply interested in books and ideas and loved music, art, theater, movies, politics and history. His many friends considered him a man for all seasons, a renaissance man, with a strong social conscience and a searching inquiring mind, an irreverent wit and a deep humanitarian spirit. He was in the process of researching a bold new work on the 1912 elections at the time of his death. Friends are planning a memorial service on July 3 in Santa Fe. In lieu of flowers memorial gifts may be sent to Brooks School Library, North Andover, MA.
Published in The New York Times on May 23, 2002