Ronald “Ron” J. Paulick, 76, of St. Louis, Missouri, passed away on October 13, 2026. He is survived by his wife Barbara (nee Sydow) and his four children, Frank Aguilar (and wife Beth), Will Aguilar (and wife Kristina), Angela Paulick (and partner Nick), RJ Paulick (and wife Kelsey), and four grandchildren, Zach Aguilar, Gabe Aguilar, Charlotte Aguilar, and Jaden Paulick.
Ron was the third and youngest child in a Baby Boomer family. Dad Roland was a WWII vet who served in the Pacific on a Coast Guard ship, LST 70. Roland was wounded when a Japanese Zero strafed the ship. The bullet was in his leg until the day he died. Mom, Amelia, “Millie” as we called her, was from a Hungarian immigrant family. Sisters Amy and Gloria adored Ron from day one.
Ron was quite the athlete growing up – with the requisite broken bones to prove it. He missed his final football season in High School due to a broken bone, Go figure!!
After High School Ron and a buddy joined the Navy. It was the Vietnam Era and Ron was fortunate to be assigned to an Electronics School in Jacksonville, Florida. He became a Flight Electronics Specialist and flew Weather Reconnaissance with the Hurricane Hunters over the Caribbean and South Atlantic. It was the coolest job ever! He had many adventures with the Squadron. (Ask me later about Jenny in Barbados and the night in the pokey after wrecking his friend’s Mini Moke.)
In 1974 he returned to St. Louis to rejoin the civilian world. He was hired shortly after that at St. Louis University Medical School to work in the Biochemistry Department Electronics Shop. It was his second ever job interview. He stayed there for 41 years.
Ron was a legend in the Medical Research Community. He was so skilled in electronics that he was in high demand – not only at St. Louis U. but also at Wash U. and facilities all around the St. Louis area. He also made repairs at Mizzou’s Medical School and regularly maintained the City’s fleet of evidence freezers.
He coordinated major laboratory moves, including one to Pennsylvania from SLU where he was required to chaperone freezers full of cell lines for research purposes. The freezers had to remain online the entire time or samples might be lost. Well, as luck would have it, they were a tad overweight and the driver was intent on avoiding weigh stations – on Interstate 70 – through Wheeling, West Virginia. Let’s just say the Wheeling detour was a little hilly. The driver looked at Ron and said, “We got one chance – there’s no recovering if we don’t make it over this hill.” The driver shifted into low gear and began the climb. He and Ron white knuckled it til they were over that hill!
Ron was a legend, not just locally, but nationally as well. A couple of scientific equipment manufacturers actively tried to recruit him. But he was happy where he was, so he compromised and agreed to do repairs on an as needed basis on their equipment located at facilities in the St. Louis Metro area. He would bill them and the money would go to SLU’s Biochemistry Department where his shop was based.
Ron retired from SLU in 2014 and the researchers clamored for him to come back as an independent contractor, which he did for another seven years. He really loved his job!
It was at Saint Louis University where Ron met Barbara. She was a young librarian in the Audiovisual Department of the Medical Library. The first time she saw him he was wearing a bright fuschia, hot pink shirt and thought, “Now, there’s a brave man!” Word on the street at SLU was that if you needed anything done, call Ron Paulick. So Barbara set out quietly pursuing Ron – to no avail. A year and a half later she called him in his shop and asked him to take her out for her birthday. He said yes!
They had similar backgrounds – both had grown up Catholic and lived in tiny houses with one bathroom and two older sisters. They just “got” each other. Which was why she was mystified when he ghosted her after their first date. Unbeknownst to her, he had gotten advice from his friend, Al, when he told him about Barbara and her two little boys. Al said, “DON’T DO IT!” And that is why they had a first first date and a second first date. He didn’t heed Al’s advice, however, and they were married a few years later.
Along the way came two more kids, Angela and RJ. Barbara’s Frankie and Willie now had a baby brother and sister. Ron and Barbara liked to joke that they had two in college and two in diapers!
They had lots of fun over the years – mostly going to family reunions on his side and traveling to family reunions on her side. They also got VERY involved in their kids’ sports. Ron coached RJ in CYC Basketball, Affton Floor Hockey League, and in Baseball at Affton Athletic Association. There he caught the eye of Jim Corner, one of the original founders of the Association, and was recruited to be on the Board. From there Ron worked his way up to President of Baseball. He was president for seven years. During his tenure lots of repairs were made – mostly because he knew how to do things, especially electrical things. He worked on the field lights and anything that might need fixing in the concession stand. He diagnosed a short in the lights on one of the small fields that was shorting to the ground. The worms were fleeing and folks were getting shocked. Later, he “accidentally” spilled some concrete into a pothole that was endangering cars on the main road into the complex. Ron also courted tournament directors to bring teams and lots of people to the complex.
Ron also coached Angela in Softball a couple years and he encouraged her when she expressed a desire to be an Umpire. RJ developed an interest in field crew – mostly because he wanted to drive the Gators. The Paulicks enjoyed their time at Affton Athletic. It was a home away from home. Which might be why when they bought cemetery plots at Sunset Memorial Park, they chose a site overlooking the Green Barn just on the other side of Grant’s Trail. Ron was happiest when he was in the dugout with his Tigers with Barbara in her folding chair next to the dugout with her feet on the fence and scorebook in her lap and a red slushie in her right hand.
Ron enjoyed watching Andy Griffith. In one episode Aunt Bea overloads the freezer with some ill-gotten beef and she couldn’t ask her butcher to store it so she tries to get the freezer fixed on her own by calling Gomer because she doesn’t want to pay a repair man. Andy tells her over and over, “Aunt Bea, call the Man!” “Call the Man!”
Ron was the Man.
Services: Funeral from KUTIS AFFTON Chapel 10151 Gravois, Monday October 19, 11:00 AM. Interment Sunset Cemetery. Visitation Sunday 4:00-9:00 PM.