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| Paul Von Drasek | |
Paul Von Drasek, the longtime and much-beloved sales executive, died in his sleep on Sunday, May 16, at his home. He was 71.
A lover of literature, a teacher in a variety of ways, and a dear friend to so many, Paul had more than 30 years of sales experience in publishing. His last full-time job was as trade sales manager at Capstone Press from 2009 until his retirement in 2015, when the company threw him a surprise party at Micawber's Books in St. Paul, Minn.
Before joining Capstone, he was director of field sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Publishing, where he worked on the integration of the Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt's field sales forces. Before that, he was executive director of sales at Harcourt and worked in sales management positions at Little, Brown, Houghton Mifflin and Penguin.
Paul was a bookseller before getting into publishing. He began at the Strand in New York City, then worked at B. Dalton Bookseller's #1 store in Edina, Minn., and opened its Alexandria, Minn., store, and then moved to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Bookstore. After growing up in Mankato, Minn., he received a bachelor's degree at the University of Minnesota in humanities and a Master's in education at Minnesota State University/Mankato State. He was also a certified high school librarian.
Paul taught publishing at Columbia University School of Journalism and served as president of the board of directors for Curbstone Press in Connecticut.
In his busy retirement, he served on the board of and was a volunteer at 826 MSP, whose mission is to empower underserved K-12 students to think creatively, write effectively and succeed academically, and at Rain Taxi, the Minneapolis book review and literary organization that, among other things, sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival, hosts readings and publishes chapbooks.
Paul was known for his droll sense of humor. He would joke, "Just one more merger and I can retire." To inspire the sales force, Paul arranged to have famous authors talk at big dinners. He would say, "You've heard of Stephen King, right? He works for us! And Garrison Keillor? He works for us, too! Rosemary Wells, she's my meal ticket!"
Because he loved music and was often on the road, Paul made mix tapes for his reps. One that he gave Shelf Awareness's own Matt Baldacci was called "Crooners."
Paul and his wife, Lisa Von Drasek, curator of the University of Minnesota's Kerlan Collection, often told about how they met: in 1985, she worked at Discovery Bookstore in Philadelphia, where she was the "girl behind the register" (as Ann Patchett put it), and he was the Viking/Penguin rep.
A celebration of life will take place Sunday, May 23 at 11 a.m. at Willwerscheid Funeral Home in Saint Paul, Minn. Family and friends are invited to arrive any time after 10 a.m. to be together. A Zoom memorial is being planned for later in the summer.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Rain Taxi, 826 MSP and the Kerlan Collection Endowed Chair Fund at the University of Minnesota.