Richard J. Paskiewicz

Richard John Paskiewicz, age 80, passed peacefully at home on October 31, 2023, surrounded by his family. Born in 1943, he spent the first 14 years of his life in Plantsville, Connecticut, where he fondly recalled the Norman Rockwell cover of the Saturday Evening Post, serving as an altar boy at Immaculate Conception Church, his grandmother’s Easter bread, and noticing the trains on his way to and from school. He and his brother Robert and their parents moved to Berlin in 1957 where he made lifelong friendships at Berlin High School, from which he graduated in 1961. After college and earning his master’s and sixth year degree, Richard began his career as a teacher in 1965 in the Rocky Hill Public Schools. He would spend the next 47 years as an educator, teaching in the Rocky Hill schools, serving as principal of Griswold Middle School in Rocky Hill, being promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Rocky Hill, serving as President of the Board of Education in Berlin, and then ultimately being appointed Superintendent of the Berlin Public Schools from 1995 to 2005, the proud culmination of his career. He served at the helm of the schools he, his wife, and his daughter attended. Not one to relax into retirement, he was appointed interim superintendent of the Vernon/Rockville schools in 2006 and the Canterbury schools in 2012. During his retirement, he shifted his focus to his favorite hobbies: building his model train set and gardening. Though he remained active in the Berlin Democratic Town Committee and St. Paul Catholic Church, he also enjoyed spending more time at his home in Cape Cod. He was a lifelong fan of UCONN basketball, football, and the New York Yankees, much to the disappointment of many of his friends who were Red Sox fans. Because of his varied interests, Richard could just as easily discuss home electrical wiring as baseball statistics, weather phenomena, train travel, and stock prices. He loved Berlin and was active in the community throughout his entire life.

He was predeceased by his parents, John and Stella Paskiewicz. He is survived by his loving wife of 54 years, Carol, his daughter Tracy, his brother Robert and his family, and sister-in-law Shirley Pulcini. He will be missed by so many.

Friends may call at Erickson-Hansen Funeral Home of Berlin, 111 Chamberlain Hwy., on Friday, November 3, 2023 from 4:00-7:00 PM. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Paul Catholic Church in Kensington on Saturday, November 4, 2023 at 11:30 AM.  Please go directly to church.  Burial will follow at Maple Cemetery in Berlin. The Richard Paskiewicz Scholarship will be awarded to a Berlin High School senior who intends to pursue a degree in a STEAM-related field. In lieu of flowers, donations to the scholarship fund can be sent to: Berlin Board of Education, 238 Kensington Rd., Berlin, CT 06037 ATTN: Richard Paskiewicz Scholarship Fund.

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