Paula Pulitzer

We are heartbroken to announce the passing of Paula Pulitzer, 89, of Dallas, TX, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt and friend to all who knew her. Paula passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family, who adored her and whom she loved fiercely until the very end.

Paula was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Sam and Mina Brandt. The family lived in Jennings, Louisiana during her childhood before returning to New Orleans when Paula was around ten or eleven. She attended Newman High School, where, at the age of 15, she met the love of her life, Simon “Si” Pulitzer. They talked on the phone every night and listened to Moonlight Serenade from the Blue Room. They were high school sweethearts who married when Paula was just 19 years old — a partnership of 67 years that would take them across the country and back, through business ventures and family milestones, through joy and hardship, always together.

Paula was a woman of many passions. She played tennis, piano, and mahjong with equal devotion and competitive spirit. She learned to ski in her 40s. She was a businesswoman who co-founded Pulitzer Promotions with Si, which the two built and operated together, and which continues to operate today. Earlier in her life, she had worked in makeup and fashion, modeled on local television, and run a successful cosmetics shop with her sister Isabel (her best friend) in New Orleans and Metairie. She was a natural entrepreneur, sharp and resourceful, with an eye for people and an instinct for connection.

She was a mother who showed up. With Si traveling for work during the boys’ early years, Paula ran the household and raised their sons — driving to every practice, serving as den mother for Cub Scouts, never missing a moment that mattered. She sat at the organ and played while her children and then grandchildren sang beside her. She taught her sons early to be passionate about something in life — a lesson she lived herself every single day.

Paula and Si made a life everywhere they went. They lived in New Orleans, Dallas, Pacific Palisades, California, and Henderson, Nevada, gathering lifelong friends at every stop. They traveled the world together, with trips to Israel, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Alaska, and South America among their most cherished adventures. In 2020, they moved to the Legacy Midtown in Dallas, where Paula quickly became a beloved fixture, building a warm circle of new friends in her mid-eighties — because that is simply what Paula did. People were drawn to her.

Paula battled pancreatic cancer for nearly two years with the grace, dignity, and stubbornness that defined her entire life. She was a warrior. She was in otherwise excellent health, and she fought her illness on her own terms, right to the end — including a spirited resistance to any suggestion that she needed a caretaker, which she considered an affront to her independence.

She is survived by her sons Randy (Laura Lacritz) and Gary (Joy); her grandchildren Jessica Pulitzer (Yogi Schulman), Samuel Pulitzer, Miles (Zoe) Pulitzer, Mina (Noah) Cohen, Jake Pulitzer, and Max Pulitzer; her great-grandchildren Micah and Ivy Pulitzer, and Ari Cohen; her nieces Rhonda (Alex) Ginsburg and Renee (Steve) Glazer, who were like daughters to her; her great-niece Samantha (Kevin) Padawer and their children Zoe and Brandt; and her beloved brother-in-law Julian Levey, who was like a brother. She also leaves behind her treasured friends at the Legacy Midtown and a lifetime of people whose lives are richer for having known her. Paula was predeceased by her husband of 67 years, Simon Pulitzer, her parents Sam and Mina Brandt, her sister Isabel Levey, and her daughter-in-law Margot Rosenberg Pulitzer.

Paula was Mom to her sons, Aunt Paula to her nieces and nephews, Grandma to her grandchildren, and Bubbe to her great-grandchildren. Each of those people had a relationship with her that was entirely, specifically their own — because she made it that way. She loved her family fiercely and independently, and that love was felt by every single one of them.

A graveside service was held on April 23, 2026, at Anshei Sfard Cemetery in New Orleans.

Donations in Paula’s memory may be made to Chabad of Henderson (www.chabadofhenderson.org), Bonai Shalom of Boulder (www.bonaishalom.org), Shaare Tefilla of Dallas (www.shaaretefilla.org), or the charity of your choice.