Decades after helping establish the Alumni Association Award, Coley Burke ’59 became a recipient of the honor.

Jeff Selesnick

In one of his final acts as president of the St. Paul’s School Alumni Association, in 1997, Coleman P. Burke ’59 established the Alumni Association Award. In his professional career, his volunteer work, and his personal life, Burke embodied the values of the award, never forgetting to be kind, and lifting up those around him.

Surrounded by family and friends, including former Alumni Association President Bobby Clark ’61 and current trustee Andy Baxter ’60, Burke received his Alumni Association Award medal just days before his passing on November 8, 2020. “Receiving the Alumni Award meant an enormous amount to our father because the School held such a very important place in his heart,” says his son, Erik Burke ’87. “My family and I will always cherish the ceremony held in our father’s house just days before he passed away.”

Burke came to St. Paul’s School as a Fourth Former in 1956, and was a member of a variety of teams and clubs, from hockey to the Missionary Society. He graduated from Yale in 1963 and spent three years in Vietnam as a Naval Communications Officer before earning his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1970. After 13 years practicing law, Burke founded Waterfront Properties, a commercial real estate firm that started in New York and eventually expanded into eight additional states. He was a thought leader on numerous boards, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, The Yale School of the Environment, The Yale Peabody Museum, The National Forest Foundation, and The National Audubon Society.

Throughout his career, Burke remained generous with his time and resources, especially when it came to St. Paul’s School. He served as form agent and form director, was a member of the Alumni Association Executive Committee, sat on the Board of Trustees for four years, and was the tenth president of the St. Paul’s School Alumni Association. An avid environmentalist, Burke, along with his wife, Susan, established the Burke Biodiversity Award to recognize SPS students who “have demonstrated the greatest understanding in preserving the natural world and its biodiversity.”

The couple expanded its support of SPS students in 2014, when they created the Susan and Coleman P. Burke ’59 Scholarship. The fund covers tuition and fees for up to four students at a time from Wyoming and California to attend St. Paul’s.

“Our father cherished the influence St. Paul’s School had on his life, and he wanted to be able to extend that influence to kids who were not able to afford it,” says Erik Burke. “It is an extraordinary institution of learning and growing. It shaped the arc of my father’s life and will always be a primary focus of our family.”