March 13, 2005: Headlines: Training: History: 1960's: Obituaries: Staff: New York Times: Fred Burke dies in New Jersey, directed the training of the first Peace Corps volunteers in East Africa
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March 13, 2005: Headlines: Training: History: 1960's: Obituaries: Staff: New York Times: Fred Burke dies in New Jersey, directed the training of the first Peace Corps volunteers in East Africa
Fred Burke dies in New Jersey, directed the training of the first Peace Corps volunteers in East Africa
Fred Burke dies in New Jersey, directed the training of the first Peace Corps volunteers in East Africa
Fred G. Burke, 79, Official Who Promoted Changes in Public School Financing, Dies
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: March 13, 2005
Fred G. Burke, who oversaw sweeping changes in the financing and accountability of public schools as the commissioner of education for Rhode Island and then New Jersey in the 1970's and early 1980's, died Friday at Newton Memorial Hospital in Newton, N.J. He was 79 and lived in Milford, Pa.
The cause was a pulmonary embolism, said his wife, Carol Sterling.
A political scientist and African-affairs specialist with a reputation for getting things done, Dr. Burke had written books, taught in colleges, served as a United Nations consultant, directed the training of the first Peace Corps volunteers and been Rhode Island's top education official for more than three years when, in 1974, Gov. Brendan T. Byrne appointed him commissioner of education in New Jersey.
[Excerpt]
Fred George Burke was born in Collins, N.Y., on Jan. 1, 1926. He was in the Army Air Forces in World War II and served in the Korean War. He graduated from Williams College in 1953, and at Princeton University received a master's in 1955 and a doctorate in 1958. Over the next 12 years, he taught political science at Ohio Wesleyan University, Syracuse University and the State University of New York at Buffalo.
During that time, he traveled often to Africa, wrote six books on African affairs, was a consultant to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and directed the training of Peace Corps volunteers in East Africa. From 1971 to 1974, he was the commissioner of Education for Rhode Island, instituting innovations that included full state funding of public schools - with money raised from the state's first income tax, adopted in 1972 - and a statewide salary scale for teachers.
After resigning as New Jersey education commissioner, he joined the University of Connecticut as vice president for graduate education and research and dean of the graduate school, and in 1992 became a senior fellow at the Phelps Stokes Fund. His last book, "Public Education: Who's In Charge?" (Praeger, 1991) argued for a national education policy.
In addition to Ms. Sterling, his third wife, whom he married in 1985, Mr. Burke is survived by three sons, Fritz, of Union, Me., Daniel, of Bangor, Me., and Adam, of Arlington, Mass.; a daughter, Rebecca Burke, of Washington; two sisters, Marlene Johnston, of Roopville, Ga., and Ellen Van Note, of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and four grandchildren. Two earlier marriages ended in divorce.
When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state. |
| RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter. |
| March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went. |
| Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory. |
| Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week. |
| Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments. |
| WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service. |
| Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress. |
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Story Source: New York Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Training; History; 1960's; Obituaries; Staff
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