Paul Borstnik

PAUL BORSTNIK was born on June 15th, 1925 in Ljubljana, Slovenia and passed away peacefully in his home on September 24, 2020 surrounded by his wife and family.

When the war ended in 1945, Paul fled to Italy and spent several years in refugee camps and met his first wife, Marija. In 1949, they immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio where they raised three children, Nick, Marian and Marina. Over the years he had various jobs from busboy to factory worker, to author and poet. He had a gift for linguistics and was fluent in multiple languages and in addition he could be barely understood in several more.

As fate would have it, he was a much better writer than busboy and he eventually leveraged his gifts for writing and language and began a decades long career with Voice of America in Washington DC where he eventually retired. After his retirement and the passing of his first wife Marija, he returned to Cleveland to be near his children and grandchildren. Years later he developed a friendship and an eventual courtship with Mira Kosem and in 2008 the two were wed and they spent his remaining years together.

To refer to Paul as “talented” would be a monumental understatement. In addition to being a published author and poet, he was a classically trained pianist, singer and composer. He was a dedicated historian of his homeland Slovenia as well as an avid student of American History and the American Civil War in particular. He enjoyed passing the time doing yardwork, cooking and amateur carpentry and anyone who has seen his woodworking skills would be sure to talk about what a gifted writer he was.

Perhaps most notably, Paul had an amazing sense of humor. He always had a joke to tell whatever the situation, and even if you had heard the joke from him a dozen times you couldn’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm while telling it. He was always proud of his children and had a special place in his heart for each of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, even if he couldn’t always keep count of all the new additions year after year.

Though Paul had published his own poetry, fiction, non-fiction and even an autobiography, he would likely claim his most important work was in cataloguing the names of over 30,000 people who were massacred in former Yugoslavia after World War II in an atrocity few people are even aware of if they do not have direct ties to the region. As someone who escaped that fate, he made it his goal to document every name he could find of those individuals who were not as lucky as he. With so much tragedy and loss all over the world at that time, he felt it was his duty to not let the exterminations that occurred in his homeland be forgotten.

To try to condense one man’s impact on the world into words is a futile gesture to say the least. One can never capture his simple smiles that came from an average meal with family and friends. His delight in indulging in an extra piece of Mira’s potica. The unbridled joy of being reunited with his sister, Sonja, and his other family members in Slovenia after the fall of the Soviet Union when he could finally return without fear of retaliation from the government. Unless you knew him, you could never know how much he loved his pets or how much he disliked the Beatles. Through his words, both on the page and over the radio, his voice reached thousands of people and affected lives in countless ways. Paul Borstnik was many things to many people. Author. Poet. Musician. Broadcaster. Historian. Friend. Son. Brother. Husband. Father. Grandfather. Great-grandfather…

Though he has passed from this world he will ever live on in the hearts of all who knew him. May he rest in peace.

PAUL BORSTNIK age 95, beloved husband for 12 years of Mira Kosem (nee Adamic) and the late Maria (nee Grum); loving father of Nick (wife Andrea), Marian McMahon, Marina Arko (husband Tom) and step-father of Timothy Kosem (wife Theresa), Christine Vidmar (husband Frank), and James Kosem (wife Hale); devoted grandfather of 19 and great-grandfather of 14; preceded in death by his grandson David McMahon and great granddaughter Isabel Obhof; dearest brother of the late Sonja Fric; dear uncle of many nieces and nephews in Slovenia.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in memory of Paul to St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church and Hospice of the Western Reserve, P.O. Box 72101, Cleveland, OH 44192.

Family will receive friends to pay tribute to and celebrate the life of Paul Friday, October 2, 2020 at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church, 15519 Holmes Ave, Cleveland, OH 44110, from 10-11AM, with a Mass of Christian Burial to follow at 11AM. Cremation following by DeJohn Crematory. Private Burial at All Souls Cemetery. ARRANGEMENTS by THE ZEVNIK-COSIC FUNERAL HOME OF WILLOUGHBY HILLS.