Paul Slosberg, of Black Diamond, died March 11 at age 76.
Special to the Chronicle
Paul Slosberg’s father used to say that the purpose of making money was to make other
people’s lives better. And as the saying goes, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
“My fondest memory of Paul was shortly after Gary and I moved here and Paul had us
over to his house,” said close friend Nancy Ayers. “He took out an old-time,
leather-bound ledger book that listed properties he owned in St. Pete, and as he went
down the list, he described every person who lived in each house, like they were family.”
CELEBRATION OF LIFE
A celebration of life for Paul Slosberg will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 15, at the
Black Diamond Clubhouse, with a second celebration for family and close friends
in Connecticut this summer.
One man in particular had lived in one of his houses for about 18 years. Because the
man was disabled and lived on a modest income, Slosberg never raised the man’s rent.
But that wasn’t enough for Slosberg.
One day he knocked on the man’s door, handed him the deed to the house and told him,
“Its yours.” “That’s the kind of person he was,” Ayers said.
After a long, courageous battle with cancer, Paul William Slosberg died March 11.
He was 76.
Besides family and the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team,
Paul Slosberg loved two things: Rotary and golf.
A long-time Rotarian, beginning in 1989 when he moved to St. Petersburg from his
native Connecticut, he poured his life into the organization that espouses
“service above self.”
Over the years, he hosted many Rotary exchange students, and even continued to keep
in contact with them, especially one young man from Brazil whom he called “my son.”
At a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Central Citrus, where Slosberg was a member
since moving to Black Diamond in 2003, his fellow Rotarians, as well as his sister
Elaine Anderson and brother-in-law Dudley Andersen, visiting from California,
shared their memories of him.
“He walked the walk,” John Clardy said. “He was always there for any project, even
when he wasn’t feeling well. … He was truly an inspiration.
“The first year I was president, the club gave zero dollars to the Rotary Foundation,”
Clardy added. “The second time as president, we had a 100 percent Paul Harris Fellow
club, which means every member had given $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation, and
the difference between those two years was Paul Slosberg. He helped us understand
why it was important.”
Ken Swade noted Slosberg’s humility and honesty — and his love for basketball.
“I took him to the local high schools to watch games,” Swade said. “I also changed
his name to Mr. Husky’ after U-Conn women’s basketball. He admired their coaching
and used that to explain Rotary, that it’s not just a few people’s strengths, but it’s all
of our skills and strengths together that makes our club very strong and dynamic.
“He changed my life forever, and he’s a man I will truly miss,” he said.
Bob Bonomo said Slosberg helped start Nature Coast Bank “with his wit, his knowledge
and his money.”
Slosberg was on the bank’s board of directors.
“He had a fond love for Nature Coast Bank — everyone knew him,” Bonomo said. “We
called him ‘Paulie.’ … He was a very caring man, a very giving man … and he was always
for the underdog. If there was a weakness and he could help, he did.”
Slosberg had a love for Withlacoochee Technical College, said his sister, and he
preferred that his money go to help students learning a trade.
In his younger years, he ran a lumber and building supply business with his dad, which
gave him a heart for blue-collar workers. Slosberg also owned a childcare center, an
outdoor furniture store and invested in real estate once he moved to Florida.
“We established a scholarship in Paul’s name,” said Vera Swade, “and when he
found out …he came and delivered a presentation about what it meant to him.
Tears rolled down his face, he was so thrilled that we thought so much of him.”
Paul Slosberg had nine lives, his sister said. Throughout his lifetime he had Hodgkin’s
disease, a stroke, lung cancer, an aortic valve replacement and was once in a coma.
“I had called the hospital to tell them I was on my way, and I told the nurse to tell Paul,
‘Don’t go anywhere.’ He had been unresponsive, but when she told him he wiggled his
toe, and when I got there he said, ‘Hi Elaine.’ He just kept coming back.”
After one comeback four years ago after a bout of cancer, Slosberg took a trip to
New Zealand to play golf — that was No.1 on his bucket list. He called it the best trip
of his life. No. 2 on his list was a trip to Brazil and Argentina, also after a bout of cancer,
but even through he was in remission, he wasn’t well on that trip.
After that, he didn’t bounce back.
“At our Christmas party, I had a feeling that was the last time I’d see him,” said Eloy
Eloy Nunez. “He was always so gracious, so loving …I valued his mentorship; he was
a guiding light.”
Club President Lou Newman said Slosberg was the epitome of what Rotary stands for
and truly put service before himself. Dudley Andersen said that was evident
in Slosberg’s life, even to the end “When Paul was in hospice and could no longer speak,
he had a keyboard so he could communicate,”
Andersen said. “I was having some surgery, and he said, ‘I’m ready to go, but not until
Dudley’s operation is over.’
“As he was dying, he was still thinking about others, about me and his sister,”
Andersen said.
Rotary district secretary Brenda Wendt said to Paul Slosberg, every person was the
most important person. “For a man that wasn’t necessarily tall, he was a giant,
” she said. “What a gift we had to have known him.”
A celebration of life for Paul Slosberg will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 15,
at the Black Diamond Clubhouse, with a second celebration for family and
close friends in Connecticut this summer.
summer.
NANCY KENNEDY
Reporter
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