Necrology

Gilman Sessions Burke '54

Mar. 14, 1932-Dec. 25, 2024

Gilman Sessions Burke ’54 died on Dec. 25, 2024, in Garrison, N.Y. Born in Summit, N.J., on March 14, 1932, he came to Hamilton from the Pingry School, then in Elizabeth, N.J. 

On the Hill, he was in the Chi Psi fraternity and majored in economics. He was a member of the Doers & Thinkers honor society, secretary-treasurer of Chi Psi, and represented it on the Interfraternity Council in his senior year. On the soccer team throughout his time at Hamilton, Gil also played hockey as a junior and tennis in his senior year. He was in the Block “H” Club all four years. 

In addition, Gil was on the staff of The Spectator from his freshman through junior years. As a sophomore and junior, he also was on the staff of The Continental. In his senior year he was part of the Publications Board as well as the Economics Club. 

Upon graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and, following basic training, attended Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va., where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. It was there that he met Sarah Nichols Cooke, then a sophomore at Smith College. In 1955, they became engaged, and on June 23, 1956, they were married in New York City. They would have a daughter and two sons.

During the first 15 months of their marriage, Gil and Sarah (“Sal” is what he called her) resided in La Jolla, Calif., where Gil had been assigned to the Marine Corps Depot in San Diego, for a time commanding a rifle company. In his entry for his class’s 40th reunion yearbook, he said he “had a tough war, mostly on the beach in Southern California.”

Following his honorable discharge in 1957, Gil and Sal moved to Cambridge, Mass., and he entered Harvard Law School, earning his L.L.B. three years later. His specialty was international law. Leaving Cambridge in 1960 for the West Side of New York City, he started at Mobil Oil Co., focusing on its international operations. In 1965, he joined the law firm of Burke & Burke (later Satterlee, Stephens, Burke & Burke), which his grandfather, Daniel Burke, Class of 1893, had founded, becoming a partner in 1969. He continued to specialize in international transactional work and banking, including representing foreign banks seeking to establish offices in the U.S.

Concurrently with his legal practice, Gil was engaged in a variety of initiatives. Having attempted, with five partners, to revive what he termed “a moribund newspaper called The Westside News,” Gil concluded after three years that it was a non-starter. In 1963, he and Sal, along with four other couples, founded the West Side Montessori School. He was its first director and became the admissions director. Aided by a grant from Head Start, the school welcomed a diverse student body. Still in existence today, the school accepts students between the ages of 2 and 6. This was helpful to his family, since his two sons were born around this time. Later on, Sal taught English at two other private schools in the city before turning to social work.

In the 1970s, Gil and Sal purchased land in Putnam County, N.Y., near the town of Garrison, where they built a small house, then sold it, and bought a larger home requiring major renovations that they undertook over several years. 

These summer homes, situated near the Hudson River, prompted Gil’s ongoing interest in environmental issues related to the river. He was an early supporter of the National Resources Defense Council and was a founder of the Constitution Marsh Sanctuary, a 271-acre tidal wetland in which fresh water and brackish tidal water intermingle. Gil was also active in the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, Riverkeeper, and the Open Space Institute, which devotes resources to land conservation and otherwise advocates for open land preservation by other conservation groups. Those “lands” were not limited to Putnam County; several of these organizations carried out similar initiatives in the Catskills and Adirondacks. Additionally, Gil served as a trustee of the Boscobel House and Gardens in Garrison. 

Regarding this expansive work, one of Gil’s Garrison neighbors memorialized him at his funeral service in Coldspring, N.Y., by writing: “a wonderful, caring man who was a major influence on preserving the natural history of the Hudson River Estuary and surrounding lands that provide critical habitat for so many wildlife species. An ardent environmentalist who supported many local organizations including [the] Audubon [Society].”

Gil’s environmental interests were international in scope. In 1994, he noted: “I have begun to work on a fairly major project for a public interest law firm on the environmental consequences of rapid economic development in several Asian countries, particularly the People’s Republic of China.”

Gil played tennis in the summer, went fly fishing when the season was right, and played hockey in the winter on ponds in Garrison, as he put it, “with other aging achievers (and some ex-college hockey stars).”

In his 50th reunion yearbook in 2004, Gil reported that both Sal and he “had bouts with cancer in the late 1990s, but came back well and strong, perhaps both the better for having survived the experiences together.” Sadly, Sal’s cancer, mesothelioma, returned, and she died on Dec. 9, 2006. Now semi-retired from his law firm, having become of counsel, Gil spent more time in Garrison than in the city. One consequence was that he made the acquaintance of Sarah Bayne, and they would subsequently marry.

Like others in his extended family (the College library is named for his grandfather), Gil served Hamilton in several important ways. Beginning in 1978, he was on the Alumni Council representing New York City. In 1980, he chaired a special committee on student life at Hamilton, at the behest of Mac Bristol ’43, P’81, GP’05,’07,’11, chairman of the board of trustees, and, a year later, was elected an alumni trustee. He was also on the Class of 1954 45th reunion planning committee in 1999.

Gil supported the College in other ways as well. In 1991, he established the Gilman S. Burke Scholarship to be awarded to a student with financial need. He was also a major contributor to the Sidney Wertimer Scholarship; the Edwin B. Barrett Prize, awarded to a student who, at the end of the sophomore year, has made a significant contribution to the College’s theatre program; and the Dwight Lindley Prize, an award for the best essay written during the academic year in an introductory-level course in English literature. 

His other contributions were made in support of the Sage Hockey Rink, other athletic facilities, performing arts facilities, and the Career Center. He also volunteered for the Priorities for Hamilton capital campaign and was a donor to both the 150th and 175th anniversary campaigns.

In addition to the pleasure of playing on a winning soccer team, Gil’s recollections of his time on the Hill included memories of inspiring faculty. Again from his 50th reunion yearbook: “I can’t possibly forget Robert Barnes Rudd, who jump-started my love of books and reading, as indeed did Tom Johnston and George Nesbitt. Professor Graves gave me a profound respect for history, Channing Richardson a passion for civic responsibility. John Baldwin … and Sid and Ellie Wertimer became close and everlasting friends.”

Gilman S. Burke was predeceased by his grandfather, Daniel Burke, Class of 1893, his father, James Burke, Class of 1925, uncles Gillman Burke, Class of 1925, and Coleman Burke, Class of 1934, and by a son. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, and a son, as well as the children of his wife’s previous marriage.

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