Juliette Paskowitz

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Juliette Paskowitz
A young Latina woman, with short dark hair, olive skin, and dark eyebrows, wearing drop earrings
Juliette Paskowitz, from a 2021 obituary
Born
Juliet Emilia Paez

January 12, 1932
Long Beach, California, U.S.
DiedMay 3, 2021(2021-05-03) (aged 89)
San Clemente, California, U.S. [1]
SpouseDorian "Doc" Paskowitz
Children9, including Salvador Paskowitz
RelativesSonia Darrin (sister-in-law), Mason Reese (nephew)

Juliette Paskowitz (January 12, 1932 – May 3, 2021), born Juliet Emilia Paez, was an American singer and matriarch of "the First Family of Surfing".

Early life[edit]

Juliette Emilia Paez was born in Long Beach, California, one of eight children born to Mexican immigrants Salvador Paez and Emilia Paez.[2][3] She trained as an opera singer at Long Beach State University.[4]

Career[edit]

Juliette Paez worked as a telephone operator and was a singer with the Roger Wagner Chorale before she married. Paskowitz and her husband opened a surf school at San Onofre in 1975. Along with their children, they were called "the First Family of Surfing".[5] In 1991, the whole family recorded a song written by son David, "It's Real".[6] A documentary, Surfwise: The Amazing True Odyssey of the Paskowitz Family (2007), explored their work and their unusual family life.[7][8][9] She also appeared on The Daily Habit (2008), a news program about surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding. She sued Lionsgate Television and Polsky Films in 2015, for money owed from another project based on the family's story.[10][11][12]

Personal life and legacy[edit]

In 1959, Paez converted to Judaism, learned to surf, and married physician and surfer Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, as his third wife.[13] (They also married in 1964 in Hawaii.)[14] They had nine children, eight sons and a daughter, born between 1959 and 1974, and raised the children in camper homes,[15] traveling often including stints in Mexico, Hawaii and Israel, but usually based near San Clemente.[4][16][17] After their children were grown, the Paskowitzes lived in Baja California.[18]

She was widowed when Doc Paskowitz died in 2014,[19] and she died in 2021, aged 89 years, at a care home in San Clemente, California. She was survived by her nine children: David, Jonathan, Abraham, Israel, Moses, Adam, Salvador, Joshua, and Navah, as well as 27 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.[20][21]

Her son Salvador Paskowitz became a noted screenwriter. Her daughter, Navah Paskowitz, married actor Ed Asner's son Matt, and is active in autism charities.[22] Israel (Izzy) still runs Paskowitz Surf Camp, with sessions in California, Mexico, and New York.[23][24]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Obituary, latimes.com. Accessed July 9, 2023.
  2. ^ Haro, Alexander (May 3, 2021). "Juliette Paskowitz Passes Away at 89". The Inertia. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  3. ^ "Salvador D. Paez (obituary)". Long Beach Press-Telegram. 1952-11-25. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-12-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b Connelly, Laylan (2021-05-05). "Matriarch of "first family of surf" Juliette Paskowitz dies at age 89". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  5. ^ Chaplin, Julia (1999-08-22). "OUT THERE: San Onofre State Beach, Calif.; The First Family Of Surfing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  6. ^ Drummond, Tammerlin (1991-07-05). "Surfing Family Hopes to Ride Wave to Success". The Burlington Free Press. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-12-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Rea, Steven (June 26, 2008). "A surfer family's turbulent life". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  8. ^ Dargis, Manohla (2008-05-09). "A Family That Surfs to a Beat: Its Own". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  9. ^ "Film looks at surf family’s deep blue life" The Austin American-Statesman (TX). June 6, 2008, p. E01. Accessed December 13, 2021. via EBSCO Connect
  10. ^ Prieskop, Victoria (July 24, 2015). "Surfing Family Says Lionsgate Owes Them". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  11. ^ Siegemund-Broka, Austin (2015-07-23). "TV Biopic of Surfing Family Threatened In Life Rights Lawsuit". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  12. ^ Fausto, Alma (2015, Jul 31). "O.C.'s Paskowitz surfing family files suit against studios over proposed TV project: Surf icon's widow says they're owed money for rights to $20 million production" Orange County Register ; via ProQuest
  13. ^ Ghert-Zand, Renee (May 6, 2010). "Navah Paskowitz-Walther: The Jewish Mother of Surfing's First Family". The Forward. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  14. ^ Paez (1964-03-05). "Marriages". The Honolulu Advertiser. p. 37. Retrieved 2021-12-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "A not so sunny tale of America's first surfing family". VC Reporter. 2008-05-21. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  16. ^ Pabon, Peter (January 6, 2015). "The First Family of Surfing's Jonathan Paskowitz on Life w/ the Waves". The Hundreds. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  17. ^ Paskowitz, Joshua (February 16, 2018). "The Art of a Paskowitz: The Last Son of Doc Shares His Incredible Work". The Inertia. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  18. ^ "Now, That's Love". The Burlington Free Press. 1995-04-28. p. 26. Retrieved 2021-12-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Dorian Paskowitz; Surfer who gave up his work as a doctor to embrace a nomadic lifestyle that included introducing the sport to Israel", Times [London, England], November 25, 2014, p. 41. via Gale Academic OneFile.
  20. ^ Marble, Steve (2021-05-08). "Aspiring Singer was Matriarch of the 'First Family of Surfing'". The Los Angeles Times. pp. B1, B5. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  21. ^ "RIP: Juliette Paskowitz". Surfline. 2021-05-03. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  22. ^ Epstein, Elena (2016-04-01). "Working On a Dream - L.A. Parent %". L.A. Parent. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  23. ^ "History". Paskowitz Surf Camp. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  24. ^ Marzo, Clay; Yehling, Robert (2015-07-14). Just Add Water: A Surfing Savant's Journey with Asperger's. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 242. ISBN 978-0-544-25317-9.

External links[edit]

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