Rose Resnick

Rose Resnick (November 27, 1906 – August 14, 2006) was an American actress, concert pianist, educator, and philanthropist born in New York City to Harris and Leah Resnick, Jewish immigrants from Russia. She appeared on Broadway between 1924 and 1927, with credits including Manikin and Minikin and My Lady Dreams. Resnick lost her sight to glaucoma during childhood and pursued advanced musical training at the Manhattan School of Music and at the Fontainebleau Conservatory of Music in France, where she studied with Nadia Boulanger. She earned a degree from Hunter College in 1928.

Despite her training as both a pianist and a teacher, Resnick was barred from employment in the New York City public schools because of her blindness. She responded by teaching music to blind students, performing recitals in New York, and working as an actress with the Lighthouse Players. In addition to her stage work, she was active in the broader performing arts community throughout the 1920s. She relocated to California in the 1930s following a visit to San Francisco to compete in a national piano competition, and subsequently performed piano in clubs and on radio during and after World War II. She also gave school and community presentations that combined musical performance with demonstrations involving her guide dog, Ilsa.

Resnick's career expanded significantly into advocacy and social services. After founding Recreation for the Blind and operating several summer camps in the late 1940s, she purchased land and co-founded the Enchanted Hills Camp in Napa County in 1950 alongside Nina Brandt, serving as its co-director until 1961. That same year she completed a master's degree at San Francisco State University, with a thesis titled "Learning and Social Development at a Camp for Blind Children," and also earned a teaching credential there. She later completed doctoral studies in education at the University of San Francisco in 1981.

From 1961 to 1991, Resnick served as founder and executive director of the California League of the Handicapped in San Francisco. In 1965 she helped establish the Garden of Fragrance at Golden Gate Park, a multi-sensory experience featuring signage for blind visitors. She also created a library of audiotape materials for California prisoners with reading disabilities. Her programs eventually merged with the San Francisco Association for the Blind to form what became the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Resnick authored two autobiographies: Sun and Shadow: The Autobiography of a Woman who Cleared a Pathway to the Seeing World for the Blind, published in 1975, and Dare to Dream: The Rose Resnick Story, published in 1988. Among the honors she received were the Hannah G. Solomon Award from the National Council of Jewish Women, the Myrtle Wreath Award from Hadassah, the designation of Handicapped Professional Woman of the Year by Pilot Club International in 1974, and the Migel Award from the American Foundation for the Blind in 1983. Resnick died in San Francisco in 2006 at the age of 99.