‘She was my hero’

Karen Resnick, a longtime employee of Richner Communications and a pillar of the Rockville Centre business community, lost a long battle with cancer on March 21. She was 65.

Resnick was the sales representative for the Rockville Centre Herald for nearly 22 years. She was also a longtime member of the Rockville Centre Chamber of Commerce, and held a variety of positions in the organization.

She was born to Martin and Suzan Pegler on March 29, 1949, in Brooklyn. She attended Midwood High School, and went on to the University of Maryland, where she studied home economics and advertising.

A few months after she graduated, in 1970, she was set up on a blind date with Jess Resnick through a mutual friend. “Neither of us really wanted to go on it,” he said. Six months later, the two were married.

“We were happy with each other from the first day to the last,” said Jess, who was the principal of Oceanside High School for nearly 10 years before he retired in 2001.

The Resnicks lived in Brooklyn for a few years before moving to Cedarhurst in 1974. Karen had a variety of jobs over the years, but found her calling when she joined Richner Communications in 1993 as the sales rep for the Oceanside/Island Park Herald. Soon afterward she moved to the Rockville Centre Herald.

Resnick grew deeply involved with the Rockville Centre business community, joining the Chamber of Commerce and helping it with pretty much everything. “When you’re in the Chamber of Commerce, being all volunteer work, it’s hard to get commitments from people, and people come and go,” said Greg Schaefer, the organization’s vice president, who knew Resnick for close to 20 years. “I can truly say, for 20 years, Karen was at every event, every meeting. She always had a smile on her face. She was unbelievable.”

Those sentiments were echoed by virtually everyone who knew her. Her indomitable spirit, even in the face of her illness, inspired those around her.

“Whenever I had a problem, she would be the person I’d go to, and she’d say, ‘We’ll figure this out. We’ll get through this,’” said Larry Siegel, a former president of the Chamber of Commerce. “I got sick before she did. And when I got sick, she was my rock.”