Juliette Paskowitz

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

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)

Early life

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

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

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
  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. 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.
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