Karel Paukert

Karel Paukert, a 51-year resident of University Heights, passed away peacefully on April 30, 2025, at the age of 90.

Karel was born in Skuteč in the Czech Republic, where he fell in love with music, particularly oboe and organ, eventually leaving home at age 15 to pursue a career in music. Following organ studies in Prague and mandatory multi-year service in the Czech Army in the late 1950s, he traveled to Reykjavik and became the principal oboist in the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Following this, he was given the opportunity to record organ music at the Cathedral of Oslo on the way back to Prague. He subsequently hitchhiked to Norway’s west coast and worked on a fishing boat, making the fateful decision to not return to his home country. Over the course of several months, Karel journeyed to Belgium -- including a stint in a Danish jail over visa issues -- to meet a musical mentor who would help him defect to the U.S. in 1965.

Karel’s first job in the States came as a teaching assistant at Washington University in St. Louis, where he would meet a talented Japanese soprano, Noriko Fujii, who had come to America to study voice on a Fulbright. They would fall in love and marry in 1966, moving to Evanston, IL, when Karel was hired as an organ professor at Northwestern. He worked at the college until 1974, having two of three children, Karel Jr. (Kajo) and Cathy in Chicago.

The Paukert family moved to Ohio that same year, after Karel was appointed chief curator of the musical arts department at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where he would become renowned for playing over 800 concerts, as well as his avant-garde music programming. A third child, Chris, followed in 1976, the same year Karel started teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Music. From 1979, he also became the organist and music director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights. He would retire from the Museum in 2003, continuing his church work until his passing. In his free time, he concertized annually around the world and made recordings with Azica Records.

In 1995, Karel was awarded a Special Citation for Distinguished Services to the Arts by the Cleveland Arts Prize. In 2003, Karel received an honorary doctorate from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and in 2022, he was awarded a national arts prize by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, as well as an honorary doctorate from Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts.

Karel is survived by his loving wife, Noriko, his children, Kajo (Christine), Cathy (Barry), Chris (Robin) and seven grandchildren: Nate, Sydney, Teddy, Marley, Morgan, Anastasia, and Zoe.

A service in celebration of Karel’s life will be held on Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 11:00am at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Heights, OH, followed by a reception.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Karel Paukert Memorial Music Fund at St. Paul’s, 2747 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44106. https://onrealm.org/StPaulsCle/-/form/give/Paukert