In Memoriam: Dr. Brian Burke
It is with immeasurable sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Brian Burke, who passed away on July 6, 2023.
Brian’s Windsor roots were formative. Growing up on Pierre Avenue and Tourangeau Road, he attended Our Lady of Lourdes and LA Desmarais before moving on to Tilbury District High School and then The University of Toronto, graduating from Medical School in 1984 and completing his Psychiatry Residency in 1990, immediately returning to Windsor to begin his service in Mental Health.
It would be difficult to find an area in which he didn’t impact local health care. Only recently stepping back from his Outpatient practice, he has been Staff Psychiatrist at all local hospitals, currently devoted to Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. He has been, now or at one time, Clinical Coordinator and ACT Psychiatrist for the Essex ACT Team, Director of the Dual Diagnosis Clinic, Undergraduate Director Psychiatry-SWOMEN, Post Grad Director-Psychiatry Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry-Windsor, chair of the ICRC at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and Program Medical Director-Mental Health and Addictions at HDGH. Despite his full career, he was an exemplar of work/life balance.
Music was a passion throughout his life; he was a performer and a fan. From the rock and roll and ska bands of his youth, to the Bebop Jazz of the Brian Burke Quartet, Brian thrived on the communal creativity of making music. He was a voracious reader on a myriad of topics, a chess enthusiast, and completed The New York Times crossword daily before his first coffee.
Let us continue his legacy of love, compassion, creativity, curiosity, connection and fun. Our eternal gratitude to EMS, and Medical staff at Met ER and Ouellette Campus CCU. As a gesture of sympathy, donations may be made to Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare Foundation, Mental Health Programs. Cremation has taken place.
Memorial visiting Thursday, July 13, 2023 from 2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Memorial service Friday, July 14, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. at Families First, 3260 Dougall Ave. South Windsor.
To read Brian’s full obituary and find out more information regarding the memorial service please click here.
