Norman Daniel Salik, a driving drive in making Ray-Ban sun shades cool by way of Hollywood movies, died on March 14 on the age of 93.
He died in Peoria, Ariz., in accordance with his former publicist Renee Sall.
Born in Brooklyn to folks who have been of humble means, his skilled success exceeded something that he ever envisioned for himself. Salik and his brother Howard have been identified to joke about how they have been as soon as so poor that “they used to have to leap as much as see the road” from their basement residence, in accordance with his son Scott. As youngsters they have been accustomed to carrying hand-me-downs that carried the title of a earlier proprietor. That stayed with the brothers, who didn’t take without any consideration how drastically their lives modified within the years that adopted.
Salik studied at Lengthy Island College and served because the supervisor of LIU’s basketball group. He earned a bachelor’s diploma in enterprise administration and administration and later served within the U.S. Air Drive and was stationed in Bermuda. Though he held varied jobs, Salik is most identified for his longtime position at Bausch & Lomb. He first joined the corporate in 1976 and spent 5 years because the advertising and marketing analysis director for Soflens earlier than happening to the corporate’s eyewear division.
Years earlier than product placement in function movies turned routine, Salik had the foresight to align Ray-Ban with main blockbusters. Whereas working at Ray-Ban, he organized for Tom Cruise to put on the model’s Wayfarers within the 1983 hit “Dangerous Enterprise” after which its Aviators three years later in “High Gun.” Salik additionally labored behind-the-scenes to safe offers that may function Ray-Bans in different motion pictures like “The Terminator” and “The Blues Brothers” and on TV reveals, too, a technique that helped to make the model’s reputation soar. Two years post-“High Gun,” the sunglass maker was nonetheless attempting to maintain tempo with the elevated demand. When Ray-Ban was unsure that it might fill all of its orders in 1988, Salik informed the Los Angeles Occasions, “We’re nonetheless attempting like hell.”
Salik additionally believed within the energy of sports activities and supported many athletes via endorsement offers together with Ivan Lendl, Stewart Payne and Gabriela Sabatini, in addition to skiers, golfers, volleyball, tennis and baseball stars. He additionally attended a number of Olympics and secretly helped out many novice athletes. By Salik, Ray-Ban was an early sponsor of the Affiliation of Volleyball Professionals, since he believed within the sport’s potential.
Ray-Bans turned a trend staple after the discharge of “High Gun” in 1986.
Courtesy of Nordstrom
His stewardship helped to make Ray-Ban the chief within the sunglass trade and the gadgets have been made within the U.S. and Italy. In 1999, it was bought to the Luxottica Group SpA for $640 million in money.
Salik had retired two years prior. As an indication of Ray-Ban’s lasting cool issue, the corporate tapped the musician A$AP Rocky as artistic director earlier this month.
By serving to to determine sun shades as a trend staple, Salik accepted an award on behalf of Ray-Ban from the Council of Trend Designers of America.
Music was one other curiosity particularly huge band, jazz, rock and classical. A lot in order that he collected greater than 125,000 songs on his iTunes, and will reference each monitor. Salik attended lots of of live shows and music festivals and have become buddies with many high artists.
Through the ’70s, he would commute two hours from New Jersey to New York Metropolis every means, 5 days per week, and at all times regretted lacking that additional time together with his household, Sall mentioned. Earlier than entering into the eyewear sector, Salik labored in market analysis for Becton Dickenson, finding out the diabetes enviornment for 2 years. He additionally had labored in market analysis at Whitehall Labs for almost seven years, at Coty for 4 years and at Audits & Surveys for almost six years.
Rebecca De Mornay and Tom Cruise in “Dangerous Enterprise.”
Warner Bros./Photofest
On the finish of his life, he watched photos of his previous flash on a pc display and commented about what an exquisite life he had had, in accordance with his son Scott Salik.
Along with his one son, Salik is survived by his siblings Howard and Arlene, his spouse Joan and his different sons Steven and Andy.
On the household’s request, donations might be made in Salik’s reminiscence to the American Canine Remedy Program at Kids’s Hospital Los Angeles.
