CENTER TWP — Township resident Robert Paserba is calling it a career after a half century of immersing himself in education.

Paserba, 72, who previously served nine years as the superintendent for the Butler School District, will leave his current position at the end of this year.

That position is the secretary for Catholic education for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, a post he assumed last year after serving 18 years as the superintendent for Pittsburgh’s Catholic schools. The diocese hasn’t yet named a replacement.

In his capacity as the superintendent of Catholic schools, Paserba annually oversaw 100 schools with more than 22,000 students. The Diocese of Pittsburgh covers 211 parishes and six counties in the region, including Butler.

It’s been an incredibly rewarding career for Paserba, who graduated from Butler High School in 1959 and got his first education job as an elementary school teacher in the district in 1964.

The lives he’s touched and impacted over those years are perhaps too many to count, which is comforting to a man who’s ready to move on to the next chapter in his life.

“This will be the first chance really, for the first time in 50 years, to be free and easy and to move forward,” he said.

But that doesn’t mean Paserba is coasting into retirement.

He’s had a major role in overseeing the planning, construction and imminent opening of the new Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School, the first Catholic high school in the county’s history.

It’s perhaps the crowning achievement of his career, Paserba said, to finally see the school built. Construction is nearly done while the school is set to open in the fall of 2014 in Cranberry Township.

“When I was growing up in Butler in the ’50s, I always remembered at St. Peter school, a teacher there saying it wouldn’t be long before a Catholic high school opened in our area,” Paserba recalled. “I was in fourth grade at the time. Well, time is relative. The school is here now, and I take great pride in that.”

Paserba led a commission that for several years sought out some of the region’s best and brightest in education and sought their input on curriculum for the new school.

That curriculum already is in place at North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, and will come with the students to the new school.

Bishop David Zubik had kind words for his outgoing colleague, saying his presence will be sorely missed in the diocese and that things won’t be the same without his longtime friend.

“Dr. Paserba is a quintessential educator and quintessential gentleman,” Zubik said. “I have to say quite honestly that I haven’t met too many people that are the kind of giant Dr. Paserba is. He might not be tall in terms of physical stature, but I look up to him so much.”

However, Paserba’s most significant achievements can’t be measured as easily because the tens of thousands of lives he’s touched can’t be quantified.

It was a journey that started when Paserba began coaching in the East Butler Little League in the early 1960s.

“It was then that I realized I really enjoy working with children as they become young adults,” he said. “I needed to become a teacher, and I’ve been one ever since.”

That’s why he went to Slippery Rock State College. He graduated with an education degree in 1964. He went on to teach elementary school in the Butler School District.

After administrative stints in the Allegheny Valley and Hampton school districts, as well as masters and doctorate degrees in education from the University of Pittsburgh, Paserba became Butler’s superintendent in 1985.

He remained there until moving to the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1994.

For now Paserba is focusing on all the tasks ahead before retirement, even if he also is looking forward to spending more time with family, including his wife Henrietta.

“I have two grandchildren in the area,” he said. “Each one of my children has a child of their own, so there’s an opportunity for me to do other things I’ve always wanted to do. I’m still healthy so I can travel and golf and do all the things people look forward to in retirement.”

Paserba also will have more time in retirement to reflect on 50 years of changing lives.

“The greatest pride I have is that children always came first,” he said. “I’ve always been an advocate for children. Every child mattered from every aspect, from the physical and emotional to the spiritual and academic. And it was my job to help them strive for excellence.”

Ed Fink can attest to Paserba’s work ethic and warm personality. Fink himself retired from a long career in education, including 43 years in the Butler School District. The last 18 of those he was the superintendent.

Fink was an assistant superintendent during Paserba’s time in Butler, and recently served as a volunteer on Paserba’s commission to implement new curriculum for the diocese.

It’s undeniable, Fink said, that Paserba always had “kids at the forefront,” he said.

“I often think just how fortunate I was here in Butler with all the quality people I worked with and was able to learn from, including Bob,” Fink said.

“You pick up bits and pieces of what to do and what to avoid along the way from people. But I always thought about how fortunate I was, and how fortunate the community was, to have people like Bob working with our children.”

Butler attorney Tom King, a friend of Paserba’s both professionally and personally, called him “a great leader both in this community and in the Pittsburgh community” with his work with the diocese.

King was the solicitor for the Butler district during Paserba’s time as superintendent. Their relationship lasted long after Paserba left the district and continues to this day.

“He’s just a terrific person,” King said. “Salt of the earth, very caring and extremely bright, someone that people in the community have relied on for years for advice, wisdom and good sense.”