Paul Erdman, economist, banker and best-selling novelist, died Monday of cancer at his ranch in Healdsburg. He was 74.
A pioneer in financial thriller novels based on real-life monetary trends and international finance, Erdman was also a respected economist and sought-after speaker on international finance.
"He was a real renaissance man -- made his living writing but was so vitally interested in so many things," said Ronn Owens, newscaster for San Francisco radio station KGO-AM and friends with Erdman for more than 35 years. "He was a fascinating person. But the most memorable thing about Paul was he was just one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet."
Erdman was an early supporter of Web journalism and was a founding financial columnist for MarketWatch.com, which was later acquired by Dow Jones & Co.
Although his reputation as an economist and banker was strong, it was his fiction that earned Erdman the greatest recognition. Several of his novels were international best-sellers.
Among his best-known works were his 1976 novel "The Crash of '79," based on underlying trends that led to the actual crash of stock markets a few years later, and his 1992 novel "The Swiss Account," credited with helping put the World Jewish Congress on the track of the gold, art and other assets taken from Jews during the Holocaust and later culminating in the historic settlements by Swiss banks with families of Jewish Holocaust victims.
His debut novel, "The Billion Dollar Sure Thing" (1973) won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Another of his books, "The Silver Bears" (1974), was turned into a 1978 movie of the same name starring Michael Caine, Cybill Shepherd and Jay Leno.
In the months prior to his death, Erdman completed work on his 10th novel, "The Great Game," expected to be published later this year.
He was a leading expert in the field of international economics and published several nonfiction works, including "Tug of War" (1996) and "Paul Erdman's Money Boo" (1984), which set out his views on exchange rates and the international financial system.
Erdman was born in May 1932 in Ontario, Canada, to American parents. He graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and received his doctorate summa cum laude from the University of Basel in Switzerland.
Erdman was founder and president of the first Swiss bank to be led by an American, which later became a branch of the United California Bank.
He was president in 1970 when the bank "overdid it on commodities," as he told The Press Democrat many years later. He wrote his first novel in a Swiss jail where he spent eight months in 1970 under suspicion of bank fraud.
Erdman was later convicted in absentia and never returned to Switzerland.
Erdman moved in 1973 to his Healdsburg ranch.
Early in his career, Erdman was a consultant for the European Coal and Steel Community (the precursor to today's European Union) and the Stanford Research Institute of Palo Alto.
Erdman is survived by his wife of 53 years, Helly Erdman, two daughters, Jennifer Erdman of Healdsburg and Constance Erdman Narea of Greenwich, Conn., and two granddaughters. The family plans a private memorial service.
You can reach Staff Writer George Lauer at 521-5220 or george.lauer@pressdemocrat.com.
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