Gary Alan Burke

Gary was born in Montgomery Alabama on April 24, 1958 to Rush Pearson Burke, Jr. and Tommie Rose Reinhardt. He was an Eagle Scout and in the Order of the Arrow. He graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in 1976. After graduation he attended Auburn University, receiving a degree in Building Science. He then worked for Blount Construction in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, he worked for a developer in Dallas, Oxford Commercial Development Corp., before going to Southern Methodist University and obtaining a master’s degree in business administration.

In 1992 he married Debra Burke and moved to the mountains of North Carolina and in 1996 his daughter, Brennan Rose Burke, the light of his life, was born. He started his own construction company in Jackson County, North Carolina, Burke Construction Company, Inc., and remained active in residential building until joining the faculty of Western Carolina University’s Construction Management program in 2006. After leaving WCU he served as director of the Office of Professional Education at Embry‑Riddle University’s Worldwide Campus. At the time of his death, he was the Vice-President of Facilities Management and Professional Education and Associate Professor of Construction Management at Capitol Technology University in Maryland.

Gary is survived by his daughter, Brennan, his wife, Debra, his sister, Lynne Ellen Kershaw, nieces Cameron Kershaw Steineker and Katherine Miriam Kershaw, and nephew Royce Gideon Kershaw, III. He was predeceased by brother, Thomas Jeffrey Burke and his parents Rush Pearson and Tommie Rose Burke. Gary enjoyed playing the drums, building, and watching auto racing. He was talented, fun-loving and kind; he will be missed by all who knew him. Abiding whole for eternity with God who is “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.”

A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 8, 2024 at Greenwood Cemetery Field of Homage Mausoleum, 909 Lincoln Road, Montgomery, AL 36109.