Hyfler/Rosner
2007-04-02 13:10:10 UTC
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
April 2, 2007 Monday
RACHEL KIMOR-PAINE, LAWYER AND WRITER 1952-2007;
Israeli-born lawyer and anthropologist settled in St. John's
where she wrote murder mysteries set in Newfoundland
BYLINE: J. M. SULLIVAN, Special to The Globe and Mail
Rachel Kimor-Paine was never afraid to make a leap, whether
from career to career, or from country to country.
A promising anthropology student at Hebrew University, she
switched tracks to become a lawyer with one of Israel's most
prominent banking institutions. A child of Hungarian Jews
who had survived the Holocaust, she left Israel to move to a
city an almost unimaginable distance removed in geography
and mentality: St. John's. There, she shifted gears again,
writing mystery novels imbued with both her own life story
and the ethos of the city that was her new place in the
world, and which fascinated her.
Such manoeuvres were characteristic of Ms. Kimor-Paine. "She
made [the move] with a heart and a half," said her friend
and fellow author, Robin McGrath. "She just plunged right
in." Although Ms. Kimor-Paine's English was "still fragile",
she researched and wrote papers comparing Canadian and
Israeli law, said Ms. McGrath. Still, she didn't try to
re-qualify as a lawyer and practice in Canada.
"She didn't want to do that again," said her husband, Dr.
Robert Paine, an anthropologist at Memorial University of
Newfoundland. "First, she thought of starting a business . .
. but she started to think, 'what have I seen? What have I
experienced?' And what she had seen and experienced was
Newfoundlanders. She saw the communality they shared, and
the uniqueness each had. Her fiction, in some, ways, was an
ethnography."
Critics called her debut, Death Under Glass, a fun read with
some genuinely unsettling plot turns. Ms. Kimor-Paine had
mined her own history to create her narrator, Olga Erdos, an
exotic, bold and clever former lawyer whose second marriage
had brought her to St. John's, just as Ms. Kimor-Paine had
moved to the city in 1998 when she married Dr. Paine, a
widower.
Ms. Kimor-Paine was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Edit and
Moshe Bachrach. An older sister, Naomi, had been born in
Hungary just before the family emigrated. The Bachrachs
opened and operated one of the country's first clothing
stores for women. Edit Bachrach designed the fashions, and
her husband cut and shaped them.
The Bachrachs travelled throughout Europe, to Germany,
France, and England, seeking out fabrics and leathers for
their business. They always journeyed by boat, and took
their daughters with them so that, from childhood, Ms.
Kimor-Paine had an adventurous, cosmopolitan sense of the
world.
In 1973, she married Yarin Kimor, a television journalist
and documentary filmmaker. She enrolled at Hebrew University
in anthropology and focused on the Samaritans of ancient
times. After getting her master's degree, she decided to go
to law school and eventually became a lawyer with Bank Leumi
Le-Israel. "It was a very socially relevant and socially
active position," said Dr. Paine. "She found rights for
those who didn't have rights." These social convictions also
found their way into her fiction writing, which contained a
keen awareness of class distinctions and social ostracism.
Along the way, she met Dr. Paine through his first wife,
Lisa, who had died in a car accident. "She made this
imaginative jump and landed in Newfoundland," he said.
Ms. Kimor-Paine embraced Newfoundland and St. John's, where
she became an active member of the city's small synagogue.
"But she was inclusive, and liked explaining her religion,"
said her friend, Barbara Riety, who was also a writer.
Recently, Ms. Riety had a book accepted for publication. The
process to get it into print had been a long one, and she
called Ms. Kimor-Paine with the good news. Her friend soon
arrived with a bottle of champagne. "I said something about
how this had taken such a length of time, and this shows
that you should wait until you're sure that something is
going to happen before you mark the occasion," said Ms.
Riety. "But she said, 'No, this shows you have to mark every
step'."
Elegant, engaging, and vivacious, Ms. Kimor-Paine was also a
terrible cook ("Cordon Noir," said Ms. McGrath), and
completely besotted with her dog, Dana, a cocker spaniel.
Her fashion sense ran to rich colours and textures, and she
was a fan of the TV series Ugly Betty.
In 2004, Ms. Kimor-Paine was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
She returned to Israel last year, intending to die there. "I
didn't think she'd leave," said Ms. McGrath, who accompanied
her. "But she liked Newfoundland - she even liked the
weather." After visiting her mother, Ms. Kimor-Paine
returned to Newfoundland and wrote her second book, Death In
the Tai Chi Retreat. The manuscript is now with her
publisher.
Rachel Kimor-Paine was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March
27, 1952. She died of lung cancer in St. John's on Feb. 1,
2007. She was 55. She is survived by her daughter, Tene
Kimor, and her husband, Robert Paine. She also leaves her
mother, Edit Bachrach.
April 2, 2007 Monday
RACHEL KIMOR-PAINE, LAWYER AND WRITER 1952-2007;
Israeli-born lawyer and anthropologist settled in St. John's
where she wrote murder mysteries set in Newfoundland
BYLINE: J. M. SULLIVAN, Special to The Globe and Mail
Rachel Kimor-Paine was never afraid to make a leap, whether
from career to career, or from country to country.
A promising anthropology student at Hebrew University, she
switched tracks to become a lawyer with one of Israel's most
prominent banking institutions. A child of Hungarian Jews
who had survived the Holocaust, she left Israel to move to a
city an almost unimaginable distance removed in geography
and mentality: St. John's. There, she shifted gears again,
writing mystery novels imbued with both her own life story
and the ethos of the city that was her new place in the
world, and which fascinated her.
Such manoeuvres were characteristic of Ms. Kimor-Paine. "She
made [the move] with a heart and a half," said her friend
and fellow author, Robin McGrath. "She just plunged right
in." Although Ms. Kimor-Paine's English was "still fragile",
she researched and wrote papers comparing Canadian and
Israeli law, said Ms. McGrath. Still, she didn't try to
re-qualify as a lawyer and practice in Canada.
"She didn't want to do that again," said her husband, Dr.
Robert Paine, an anthropologist at Memorial University of
Newfoundland. "First, she thought of starting a business . .
. but she started to think, 'what have I seen? What have I
experienced?' And what she had seen and experienced was
Newfoundlanders. She saw the communality they shared, and
the uniqueness each had. Her fiction, in some, ways, was an
ethnography."
Critics called her debut, Death Under Glass, a fun read with
some genuinely unsettling plot turns. Ms. Kimor-Paine had
mined her own history to create her narrator, Olga Erdos, an
exotic, bold and clever former lawyer whose second marriage
had brought her to St. John's, just as Ms. Kimor-Paine had
moved to the city in 1998 when she married Dr. Paine, a
widower.
Ms. Kimor-Paine was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Edit and
Moshe Bachrach. An older sister, Naomi, had been born in
Hungary just before the family emigrated. The Bachrachs
opened and operated one of the country's first clothing
stores for women. Edit Bachrach designed the fashions, and
her husband cut and shaped them.
The Bachrachs travelled throughout Europe, to Germany,
France, and England, seeking out fabrics and leathers for
their business. They always journeyed by boat, and took
their daughters with them so that, from childhood, Ms.
Kimor-Paine had an adventurous, cosmopolitan sense of the
world.
In 1973, she married Yarin Kimor, a television journalist
and documentary filmmaker. She enrolled at Hebrew University
in anthropology and focused on the Samaritans of ancient
times. After getting her master's degree, she decided to go
to law school and eventually became a lawyer with Bank Leumi
Le-Israel. "It was a very socially relevant and socially
active position," said Dr. Paine. "She found rights for
those who didn't have rights." These social convictions also
found their way into her fiction writing, which contained a
keen awareness of class distinctions and social ostracism.
Along the way, she met Dr. Paine through his first wife,
Lisa, who had died in a car accident. "She made this
imaginative jump and landed in Newfoundland," he said.
Ms. Kimor-Paine embraced Newfoundland and St. John's, where
she became an active member of the city's small synagogue.
"But she was inclusive, and liked explaining her religion,"
said her friend, Barbara Riety, who was also a writer.
Recently, Ms. Riety had a book accepted for publication. The
process to get it into print had been a long one, and she
called Ms. Kimor-Paine with the good news. Her friend soon
arrived with a bottle of champagne. "I said something about
how this had taken such a length of time, and this shows
that you should wait until you're sure that something is
going to happen before you mark the occasion," said Ms.
Riety. "But she said, 'No, this shows you have to mark every
step'."
Elegant, engaging, and vivacious, Ms. Kimor-Paine was also a
terrible cook ("Cordon Noir," said Ms. McGrath), and
completely besotted with her dog, Dana, a cocker spaniel.
Her fashion sense ran to rich colours and textures, and she
was a fan of the TV series Ugly Betty.
In 2004, Ms. Kimor-Paine was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
She returned to Israel last year, intending to die there. "I
didn't think she'd leave," said Ms. McGrath, who accompanied
her. "But she liked Newfoundland - she even liked the
weather." After visiting her mother, Ms. Kimor-Paine
returned to Newfoundland and wrote her second book, Death In
the Tai Chi Retreat. The manuscript is now with her
publisher.
Rachel Kimor-Paine was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March
27, 1952. She died of lung cancer in St. John's on Feb. 1,
2007. She was 55. She is survived by her daughter, Tene
Kimor, and her husband, Robert Paine. She also leaves her
mother, Edit Bachrach.