Born in Chicago, he came to Princeton from New Trier High School. At Princeton he majored in economics, took his meals at Court Club, and was president of the debate panel and director of the Princeton Speakers Bureau.
After marriage and Yale Law School he returned to Chicago, where he practiced law with Mayer, Brown and Platt for five years. Following stints in banking and real-estate investment, Paul was recruited by Bank of America in 1973 and moved to California to begin a long career with that company in increasingly senior positions nationally and internationally, retiring as executive vice president in 2002.
He served many nonprofits with distinction, including the San Francisco Opera, Japan Society, Grace Cathedral, Jewish Family and Children’s Services, and so many more. This memorial does not begin to do justice to his many contributions to the community.
After his first wife, Janet, died in 2000, Paul married Valerie Crane in 2002. He is survived by Valerie; children Judith Mendelsohn, Jeffrey, Eric, and Benjamin; their families, which include three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; and his brother, John.