Jane Pultz of Press Pacifica
was a pioneer of local books
Jane Wilkins Pultz, 82, who died of a heart attack Oct. 3 in Kailua, was a pioneer among Hawaii's small-press book publishers.
Pultz founded Press Pacifica in 1976 and brought more than a hundred titles to press, including books for which she served as a publishing consultant.
Pultz was born in Newfane, N.Y., and graduated from the University of New York at Genesco with a degree in library science. She went to work as a sports editor at a newspaper in Lockport, N.Y., the first woman to hold that position.
During World War II, Pultz was a navy officer in the WAVES, working for Naval intelligence in new York City, and after the war was a naval congressional liaison in Washington, D.C.
After stints as an archive librarian and a student in creative writing programs, Pultz became a roving librarian in Montana, driving bookmobiles over hundreds of miles of rugged terrain in the Rocky Mountains.
She married Eastman Kodak employee Richard Pultz in 1952, and two years later, the company transferred them to Hawaii, and then to Latin America and Mexico. They returned to Hawaii in 1966 to stay, settling in Lanikai.
As a graduate student at the University of Hawaii in the 1970s, Pultz helped found the Womens' Studies program and began publishing books dealing with Hawaiian and Pacific culture. Dick Pultz began the successful book-distribution company known today as BookLines.
Pultz is survived by husband Richard; son David, an architect; and daughter Mary Ann, a geneticist.
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