New York Times Obituary

Paul Du Brul, a writer and political consultant who was a leader in the fight to outlaw the use of lead-based paint in New York City, died of cardiac arrest – a complication of cystic fibrosis -Friday at St. Luke’s Hospital. He was 49 years old and lived in Manhattan.

In recent years, Mr. Du Brul served as a special assistant to the New York State Social Services Commissioner, Cesar A. Perales.

Councilwoman Ruth W. Messinger, Democrat of Manhattan and a friend of Mr. Du Brul, said yesterday: ”Paul fought for social justice every day of his life. He saved thousands of New York City children from the scourge of lead poisoning.”

In the late 1960’s, while working for the University Settlement on the Lower East Side, Mr. Du Brul called attention to the tragedy of children being poisoned by the peeling paint they ate off tenement walls. And, in the early 1970’s, as special assistant to State Attorney General Robert Abrams, who was then the Bronx Borough President, Mr. Du Brul lobbied for legislation -now law – to ban the use of lead paint in apartments. Finding Fulfilling

Much of Mr. Du Brul’s work was done while he was tethered to an oxygen tank in his Upper West Side apartment. He battled the worsening of his disease by balancing rage and humor because, he said, ”If you spend a lot of time saying ‘Why me?’ you’ll find out too soon.”

The son of a laborer, the Brooklyn-born Mr. Du Brul had planned to become a journalist. But in a recent interview, he said, ”Very early on I decided that exposure wasn’t enough.” Instead, he became a union organizer and a civil-rights worker in the South and in urban areas.

Collaborating with Jack Newfield, the Village Voice writer and his classmate at Hunter College, Mr. Du Brul wrote a book about abuse of power, ”The Permanent Government,” that John Kenneth Galbraith said ”could be the best piece of urban journalism since Lincoln Steffens.”

Mr. Du Brul is survived by his wife, Liza Hirsch-Du Brul, and his son, Sascha.