Paul Ress, who has died aged 98, was an
American journalist and press officer who spent most of his adult life in Europe, where he amassed devoted
Friends, bearded collie dogs, fabled contacts and a talent for puns, which all sustained him through a long and richly industrious career.
Born in New York, Paul was the son of Samuel Ress, a lawyer, and his wife Lilian. His education at Yale was interrupted by second world war service in the Philippines. In 1947, he travelled to Europe where he talked his way into a $26-a-month writing
Job in the
Paris offices of the
New York Herald Tribune, where Art Buchwald was among his colleagues. In 1948 he married Fanchette Laroque and they settled in Maisons-Laffitte, just outside Paris, and had three children, Colin, Coralie and Manon.