Paul Soloway

1941 - 2007

Paul Soloway of Seattle, who has died aged 66, was one of the world's leading bridge-players. He won the Bermuda Bowl, the World Open Teams title, on five occasions and took silver in two Bermuda Bowls and two Olympiads.

Soloway learned bridge at college and six months after graduating made bridge his fulltime career. In 1971 he became a member of the Aces, the leading professional team in the USA.

World titles in 1976, 1977 and 1979 were followed by a fallow period. But in 1998 he joined the USA's top team, led by Nick Nickell, replacing Bobby Wolff as partner to the world number one, Bob Hamman. This led to further Bermuda Bowl titles in 1999 and 2003.

Soloway was America's leading masterpoint holder having won more than two dozen national team titles, the most recent being this summer's Spingold. At the time of his death his masterpoint total of 65,500 was more than 6,000 ahead of the next on the list.

Soloway was due to be in the Nickell team for the World Championships last month in Shanghai but his illhealth prevented him competing. Without him the team was eliminated at the end of the round robin, not reaching the quarterfinals.
Soloway left a widow, Pam.

Article : Patrick Jourdain
Photograph : Ron Tacchi