Norman Daniel Salik, a driving pressure 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 keeping with his former publicist Renee Sall.
Born in Brooklyn to folks who had been of humble means, his skilled success exceeded something that he ever envisioned for himself. Salik and his brother Howard had been identified to joke about how they had been as soon as so poor that “they used to have to leap as much as see the road” from their basement residence, in keeping with his son Scott. As youngsters they had 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 Pressure and was stationed in Bermuda. Though he held varied jobs, Salik is most identified for his longtime function 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 characteristic 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 “Prime Gun.” Salik additionally labored behind-the-scenes to safe offers that may characteristic Ray-Bans in different motion pictures like “The Terminator” and “The Blues Brothers” and on TV exhibits, too, a technique that helped to make the model’s reputation soar. Two years post-“Prime Gun,” the sunglass maker was nonetheless making an attempt to maintain tempo with the elevated demand. When Ray-Ban was unsure that it may fill all of its orders in 1988, Salik advised the Los Angeles Instances, “We’re nonetheless making an attempt like hell.”
Salik additionally believed within the energy of sports activities and supported many athletes by means of 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 means of 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 style staple after the discharge of “Prime Gun” in 1986.
Courtesy of Nordstrom
His stewardship helped to make Ray-Ban the chief within the sunglass trade and the gadgets had 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 style staple, Salik accepted an award on behalf of Ray-Ban from the Council of Vogue Designers of America.
Music was one other curiosity particularly large band, jazz, rock and classical. A lot in order that he collected greater than 125,000 songs on his iTunes, and will reference each observe. Salik attended tons of of concert events and music festivals and have become mates with many prime artists.
Through the ’70s, he would commute two hours from New Jersey to New York Metropolis every manner, 5 days every week, and all the time regretted lacking that further time together with his household, Sall mentioned. Earlier than moving into the eyewear sector, Salik labored in market analysis for Becton Dickenson, finding out the diabetes area 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 screen and commented about what an exquisite life he had had, in keeping 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 will be made in Salik’s reminiscence to the American Canine Remedy Program at Kids’s Hospital Los Angeles.
