Rose Resnick

Rose Resnick (November 27, 1906 – August 14, 2006) was an American musician, educator, and philanthropist. She was co-founder and co-director of the Enchanted Hills Camp for the Blind in California, and a leader in San Francisco's blind community for decades.

Early life and education Rose Resnick was born in New York City, the daughter of Harris Resnick and Leah Resnick. Both of her parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia; her father sold cloaks and suits. She became blind from glaucoma in childhood. She studied music at the Manhattan School of Music and at the Fontainebleau Conservatory of Music in France, with Nadia Boulanger. She graduated from Hunter College in 1928. She later earned a master's degree and a teaching credential at San Francisco State University in 1961, with a master's thesis titled "Learning and Social Development at a Camp for Blind Children." She completed doctoral studies in education at the University of San Francisco in 1981.

Career Resnick was a concert pianist, and trained as a teacher, but as a blind woman was barred from employment in the New York City public schools. She taught music to blind students and gave recitals in New York, and was active on stage as an actress with the Lighthouse Players. She moved to California in the 1930s, after visiting San Francisco to compete in a national piano competition. She played piano in clubs and on radio during and after World War II. She gave school and community presentations combining musical performance and demonstrations with her guide dog, Ilsa.

After founding Recreation for the Blind and running a few summer camps at other locations in the late 1940s, Resnick bought land and, with Nina Brandt, became co-founder and co-director of the Enchanted Hills Camp in Napa County in 1950. "When children play in groups, it's natural to bridge that gap between the sighted world and the world of the blind," she explained in 1949. She left active directorship of the camp in 1961. In 1965 she helped establish the Garden of Fragrance at Golden Gate Park, a multi-sensory park experience with blind signage. She started a library of audiotape materials for California prisoners with reading disabilities. and eventually the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. and Dare to Dream: The Rose Resnick Story (1988).

Honors and awards Resnick won several scholarships and competitions as a young musician. In 1974 she was named Handicapped Professional Woman of the Year by Pilot Club International.

Personal life Resnick traveled for work and pleasure, including study in France as a young woman, though about half of the campground's structures were damaged by wildfires in 2017.