Obituary of Paul R. Green

BRIDGEPORT, CONN Paul R. Green of Westport, a magazine publisher and much-beloved community activist, died April 26 at Jewish Senior Services in Bridgeport. He was 94. A lifelong lover of sailing and exercise, Green was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 75. Convinced that vigorous physical and mental workouts would stave off the worst symptoms, he took up windsurfing and then his late-life passion — rowing. He soon became a fixture at Westport’s Saugatuck Rowing Club where he was revered as a figure of great charm, wit, and inspiration. He won many medals in senior rowing, including a national championship for competitors over 85. The rowing club honored him as admiral emeritus and instituted an annual Paul Green Award for members who “strive to excel and never quit.” Deeply committed to everyone who suffered from Parkinson’s, Green created a foundation to educate people about the benefits of exercise. Inspired by Winston Churchill, he called the nonprofit organization “Nevah Surrendah to Parkinson’s.” His work included weekly classes at the Westport Senior Center and many years of volunteer service at Norwalk Hospital. Paul Richard Green was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1923 to Abe and Bertha Green. He attended Boston Latin School and, in 1941, entered Brown University where he enlisted in Navy R.O.T.C. In 1943, he was deployed to the Pacific as a lieutenant on an LST, a ship designed to land on beaches to unload ground troops. In 1945, near war’s end, he helped deploy troops to Okinawa. Always admired for his wry and self-deprecating sense of humor, Green’s funniest stories often included his military service in World War II, particularly his stint as a morale officer. After returning to Brown University to complete his degree, Green launched a career as an advertising salesman for several magazines, including Town and Country where, during a job interview, he accidentally asked for a 200 percent raise and was shocked to discover that he got it. In 1952, he married Sonya Warshawsky of Shaker Heights, Ohio with whom he had five children — Andrew Green and Alex Green, both of Oakland, California, Douglas Green of Washington, D.C., Katherine Appy of Amherst, Massachusetts, and Peter Green of Westport. The marriage ended in divorce in 1976. In 1953, Green and his older brother, Norman Green, founded Intercontinental Publications in New York City, a firm that specialized in trade magazines for developing countries. Green managed the publishing company until 1990. He traveled widely throughout his career, becoming fluent in Spanish and proficient in Japanese. In the late 1960s, as a member of Representative Town Meeting (RTM) in Westport, Green led a campaign to introduce “minnybuses” for community transportation. When the plan was adopted it was widely hailed as a pioneering example of suburban mass transit. He also spearheaded efforts to save Cockenoe Island from environmental degradation and helped create Westport’s Conservation Commission. Those achievements, among others, led to Green’s being named by Westport magazine as one of the “top 50 Westporters of all time.” In 1978, Green married author and psychologist Eleanor Craig and became a stepfather to her four children, Ann Craig (1953-1987), Richard Craig of Arlington, Virginia, William Craig of Thetford, Vermont, and Ellen Perlwitz of Putnam, Connecticut. Eleanor Green died in August 2017. In addition to his five children and three stepchildren, Green is survived by 21 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, and in honor of Paul Green’s commitment to exercise as a positive response to medical challenges, the family requests that donations be offered to the Workout Through Cancer Foundation. A memorial service will be held to celebrate the life on Friday, October 2, 2020 at 1PM at Willowbrook Cemetery, 395 Main Street, Westport.