Johnstown Area Heritage Association CEO Burkert retiring after 44 years; successor named

Russ O Reilly, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·3 min read

Aug. 17—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — After 44 years, Richard Burkert, president and chief executive officer of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, is retiring.

Burkert, whose retirement is effective Aug. 31, was initially hired as the executive director of what was then known as the Johnstown Flood Museum Association in 1979.

He reopened the Johnstown Flood Museum with all-new exhibits a decade later, coinciding with the 1889 Johnstown flood's centennial commemoration.

The museum has hosted more than 1 million visitors since its 1989 reopening, according to JAHA.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and historian David McCullough that year referred to the renovated museum as "one of the best regional museums in the country."

The museum's film on the Johnstown Flood won the 1989 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject, which is another feather in Burkert's cap, said Dan Solomon, chairman of the JAHA board of directors.

"With that, Richard set the bar for what has been an extraordinary career in Johnstown, using our shared history to be a vital part of our future," Solomon said in a statement.

"Few people have done as much for Johnstown."

JAHA is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that preserves and presents Johnstown's nationally significant stories to the nation.

It operates the Johnstown Discovery Network, which includes the Johnstown Flood Museum, the Heritage Discovery Center and the Johnstown Children's Museum, all of which developed under Burkert's leadership.

Burkert plans to continue to serve JAHA as a consultant in his retirement, a press release from the organization said.

Patty Carnevali, the organization's chief operating officer since March, is set to succeed him as president and CEO.

"JAHA will still make good use of Richard's historical expertise and many years of experience," Carnevali said. "We are grateful for his many years of service in creating this organization, and will work hard to continue his legacy."

Burkert said he is excited about JAHA's future under Carnevali's leadership.

"My enthusiasm for the organization is at an all-time high," he said. "I've been very, very fortunate to spend my entire career here in Johnstown."

Under Burkert's leadership, JAHA expanded the scope of its programs to include the themes of iron and steelmaking, immigration and ethnicity. The Frank & Sylvia Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center opened in 2001 in Johnstown's Cambria City neighborhood with a permanent exhibition about immigrants to Johnstown around the turn of the 20th century.

Burkert has also been instrumental in saving the Johnstown train station, originally built in 1916. The project recently received a $11.3 million federal Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to rehabilitate the structure for tourism and transportation.

His numerous other projects included preventing Bethlehem Steel Corp. from demolishing the company's Johnstown blacksmith shop in the 1990s. In 2006, Burkert collaborated with the Johnstown Redevelopment Authority to find funding to conserve that Iron Street building. It subsequently has become the Center for Metal Arts, an educational forging school with international renown.

With Burkert at the helm, JAHA began presenting live music and events in 1990, when JAHA worked with state and local officials to bring the National Folk Festival to Johnstown for three years — and afterward, JAHA began presenting the Johnstown FolkFest, the predecessor festival to the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival.

In his role as a consultant at JAHA, Burkert will serve on the board of directors and maintain an office at the Heritage Discovery Center, where he will continue to work on the rehabilitation of the Johnstown Flood Museum and renovation of the train station, as well as the development of new exhibits.

"You can't shake your heritage," Burkert said. "It's part of who you are, and it's part of the character of your community. But you can use it to create a strong sense of place, and successful communities do. There's no place quite like Johnstown."