Mack Burke, 1915 - 2013
Mack died at 98 in Santa Barbara.
After graduating from Dartmouth, he married Patricia Anne Gill, learned Spanish, and went to Argentina to find work. When the US went to war, they returned via Bolivia and Machu Picchu, and he joined the US Navy. He was posted in Veracruz as liaison with the Mexican Navy during World War II.
After the war he worked for the New York Times in New York. Most of his career was with Time Life magazines and books, and he managed their Latin American business, based in Mexico City.
He spent 43 years retired in San Diego, traveled on freighters with his wife Pat, and earned a Masters in English History from San Diego State University. Pat died in 2005.
He is survived by a daughter, Sheila Burke Page, a son, Paul Burke, and a nephew, Dennis Ryberg.
Illness did not stop him. A month after getting a pacemaker, he went on a cruise to Iceland. At age 92 he fell, stopped breathing, was revived with a breathing tube, and enjoyed years of life. He exercised with a personal trainer. Life was worth living. The video below was recorded when he was 95.
During his final illnesses, Medicare cost-cutting policies penalized hospitals for readmitting him, and hospital staff convinced his Catholic assisted living to evict him unless he agreed to end dialysis and die. Preferring life, and not in pain, he had to move out and went to Santa Barbara, where he died April 5, 2013.
Medicare policies which penalize hospitals for spending on the elderly are discussed at Globe1234.com
