[blindlaw] Paul Edward Knisbacher Kay Dies at age 71

[Michael Fry]

It's inspirational to read such an extraordinary biography.

2009/1/10 Mildred Rivera-Rau <mildredrivera at yahoo.com>

> Thank you for sending this out! It was very informative and heart warming.
> I am sorry for your loss especially.
>
> --- On Sat, 1/10/09, LPovinelli at aol.com <LPovinelli at aol.com> wrote:
>
> From: LPovinelli at aol.com <LPovinelli at aol.com>
> Subject: [blindlaw] Paul Edward Knisbacher Kay Dies at age 71
> To: nfb-web at nfbnet.orgk, david.andrews at nfbnet.org, blindlaw at nfbnet.org
> Date: Saturday, January 10, 2009, 8:04 PM
>
>
> Paul Edward Knisbacher Kay Dies at age 71
> By Harold Snider and Larry Povinelli
> We report with great sorrow the untimely death of Paul Kay, a longtime
> leader in the National Federation of the Blind, after a protracted illness
> on
> Wednesday, January 7, 2009. We would like to recall Paul's life and
> achievements.
> Paul Edward Knisbacher was born on February 22, 1937 in Vienna, Austria.
> Paul's early life was traumatic. His family fled from the Nazi takeover  of
> Austria in November, 1938. First they  fled to Belgium for about a year.
> When
> the  Nazis invaded Belgium in  1939, they again fled to England. The young
> family survived  the Blitz in London and after eighteen months in  England
> immigrated to the  United  States in early 1941. On arrival, Paul's father
> changed
> the family name from Knisbacher to Kay.  He thought that the family would
> flourish  with more Anglicized names.  In  1981, Paul had the opportunity
> to
> revisit his family home in Vienna, Austria which had been confiscated by
>  the
> Nazis.
> He was able to meet his old nanny and the reunion was both happy and
> tearful.
> Paul grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in New York City. From
> the
>  age of 10 Paul began to loose his sight.  In high school he was diagnosed
> with Retinitis Pigmentosa, which led to  Paul's blindness.  Paul also had
> severe hearing loss later in life.  Paul graduated from Taft  High School
> in
> 1956
> and then attended  The College of Insurance in Brooklyn NY  where he
> obtained a
>
> Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration in 1961.
> In the 1960s, Paul worked as an independent insurance  broker in New York
> City. He also obtained training and was licensed as a  Masseur. But neither
> career truly satisfied Paul's ambitions. With encouragement  from his
> family
> and
> members of the National Federation of the Blind, Paul  entered law school
> at
> New  York University in September, 1971.  Paul first joined the National
> Federation  of the Blind in the summer of 1968 in New York City.  He
> attended
> his
> first National  Convention in 1969.  Paul joined the  student division in
> 1970,
>
> where he served as Vice President and later the  National Association of
> Blind
> Lawyers, where he was an active member for 33  years.  This experience
> changed
> his  life.  At the same time Paul always  loved big dogs and was a guide
> dog
> user for many years after law school.  He had five guide dogs during his
> life.
> On graduating from law school in 1974, Paul moved to  Washington DC to
> accept
> a position as Staff Attorney with  the U.S. Maritime Administration, an
> agency of the Department of Commerce. He  was employed by the government
> for
> eleven
> years, leaving to enter private law  practice in 1985 where he began
> practicing Criminal Law in the DC Superior Court  and the U.S. District
> Court
> for the
> District of Columbia.  In 1993, Paul and Larry Povinelli became  law
> partners
> and created a professional corporation.  The corporation expanded its
> practice
> to  include numerous areas of the law. Paul and Larry practiced law
> together
> until  his death.
> On Paul's arrival to Washington in 1974, he immediately became part  of the
> leadership of the newly reorganized NFB of DC. He remained an active
>  leader,
> board member and officer for the remainder of his life. Paul served as
> President of the DC affiliate from 1978 to 1980, distinguishing himself for
> his
>
> advocacy and leadership in educating the DC City Council about blindness.
> Paul
>
> was also actively involved in the Sligo Creek Chapter of the NFB of
> Maryland
> and
>  the Potomac Chapter of the NFB of Virginia.
> Although Paul lived in Washington for thirty-five years, you could  never
> mistake him for anything other than an extreme New York Yankee fan.  In
> 2007,
> on
> the occasion of his  seventieth birthday close friends of Paul gave him a
> great surprise, a return  visit to his old home in the Bronx and a game  at
> Yankee
> Stadium where he was able to cheer for his beloved New York Yankees.
> Paul loved his baseball as he loved life.  Nothing stopped him from
> succeeding at  whatever he wanted to do.  If you  took the time to get to
> know
> Paul,
> you would have come to know a great friend,  who had a heart of gold.  He
> will
>
> dearly missed by his family and friends.
> A memorial service will be held at 10 AM on Sunday, January 10, 2009 at
> Louis Suburban Chapel in Fair  Lawn, New Jersey.  Paul will be buried next
> to
> his
> mother  and father.
> .
> Paul is survived by his sister, Elizabeth Kay  Goldstein
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