Malvern Doctor, Humanitarian Dead At 72

Obituary as published at Mauger Givnish Funeral Home

Kershaw Burbank, Jr., age 72 of Malvern, PA died on Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at Neighborhood Hospice of West Chester, PA. He was born on February 1, 1943 in New York, NY to the late Kershaw Burbank, Sr. and Elizabeth Hapworth Burbank. He is survived by his wife Gwendolyn Pusey Burbank of Malvern, PA and children Rebecca Burbank Gilstrap of Charlotte, NC and David Ian Burbank of West Chester, PA. He is preceded in death by his son Kershaw Burbank III.

Kerk graduated from The Taft School in Watertown, CT in 1961. He served in the Marine Corps for a three year tour of duty before enrolling in Yale University. Kerk graduated from Yale in 1968 with a BA in American Studies. In 1985 he was granted a Master of Professional Studies from Cornell University and in 1998 a PhD from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom.

After graduating from Yale he worked for Procter & Gamble for five years as a field supervisor and staff assistant. He returned to the Main Line as a PR/AD agency principal at Burbank Associates. Clients included Tylenol, Ferrari and the Devon Horse Show.

After several years in public relations work, Kerk combined his belief in service to the Lord and his love of adventure when he became the Executive Director of Christian Community Services of Mt. Kenya East in Kenya, Africa. As the organization’s first CEO, he served 34 percent of Kenya with agricultural training, community health, business development, and water development services. The NGO is now over 30 years old and an organizational model for the Anglican Church in Kenya. While in Kenya, he was involved in over 100 economic development projects, and started a regional rural development organization spanning half of Kenya, CORAT-AFRICA. Through CORAT he trained over 90 African CEOs and senior managers in planning and management and designed, negotiated and implemented $1.5 million in USAID for community health programs.

In 1988 Kerk returned to Malvern, PA with Gwen and their children, accepting the charter Templeton Chair for Entrepreneurship at Eastern University. As Chair, Kerk designed and taught two capstone courses in strategic planning and entrepreneurship with 20 percent of business plans resulting in actual start-ups.

After Eastern University Kerk served as Executive Director of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund raising $1.6 million. He continued consulting as a Senior Advisor at Burbank Associates and widened the agency’s NGO breadth. Clients included Word Vision, Mercy Corps, Five Talents International and Uganda Christian University.

In 2009 Kerk and Gwen moved to Grenada, BWI, where he was a Professor of Business and Management Studies at St. George’s University and Director of the MBA program. While at St. George Kerk was able to combine his passions for training young leaders in business and international development along with his long time love of scuba diving.

Kerk has been an active member at the Church of the Good Samaritan since 1976.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend Dr. Burbank’s life celebration service on Friday, October 23, 2015 at 4pm at The Church of the Good Samaritan 212 West Lancaster Avenue Paoli, PA. Interment to follow at the adjoining cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that funds be directed to the Good Samaritan “Kingdom Builders” Fund. Established in memory of Kerk, proceeds will be used to provide a memorial baptismal bowl as well as support evangelism initiatives at the Church of the Good Samaritan.