GUZMAN, RENATA – A private home service for family and friends will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 13, for Renata Zurer Gusman, 53. She passed away on Jan. 6 after a long struggle with cancer. Renata was born in Germany and grew up in Greenwich Village. She graduated from The School of Visual Arts, where she met her husband of 36 years. She was an entrepreneur and artist who ran her own ceramic design company, Kingdom Tiles. She and her husband Ray were partners since 1983 in an award-winning sign company, Hoboken Sign, and BrainWaze Studio, a design and marketing studio. She was a writer who published poems and wrote many articles for numerous publications in the sign and design industries as well as an uncompleted novel. She was awarded numerous honors for sign competitions, historic district recognition, was awarded the privilege of judging sign competitions and earned the coveted title of Kentucky Colonel. In 2005 and 2006 she spoke as guest of honor before the Pink Tie Ball for The North Jersey Chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and was an outspoken advocate for under-insured women seeking preventive care and cancer treatments. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, her husband offered many of his best paintings for sale on a website, www.rayguzmanstudios.com, to defray medical costs and to contribute to local foundations to fight the disease. Survivors include her husband and her son, Noah.