Cornell University Memorial Statement for Professor Lawrence A. Burckmyer, Jr. (September 7, 1901 — April 7, 1988)
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/19220
"Lawrence A. Burckmyer, Jr. (hereinafter referred to as “Burck”) was born in North Augusta, South Carolina. After prep-school work at Virginia Military Academy (where he was first in his class) he entered Clemson College, a short distance up the road from where he was born. Upon graduation with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1922 (again first in his class) he was highly recommended for an instructorship in the School of Electrical Engineering at Cornell and was offered an appointment, which he accepted for the fall term 1922. He became an assistant
professor in 1929, an associate professor in 1942, and a professor in 1943. He retired early and became professor emeritus in July 1962.
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Burck’s numerous administrative responsibilities during his career included membership on a three-man committee appointed to administer the affairs of the School when it was without a director (1944-45). Also, he was in charge of the electrical engineering curriculum for the Steam and Diesel Programs of the Naval Training Program during World War II. This responsibility included the task of seeking out and hiring a teaching staff consisting of practicing engineers, active and retired, as well as developing the course material and a new laboratory. He was also in charge of an area responsible for electrical circuits and measurements laboratory, and machinery courses in the School.
While a member of the three-man committee in 1944-45 he was chosen as chairman of the Building Planning Committee for a new building to replace the facilities in Franklin Hall, Rand Hall, and the Old Heating Plant (converted to an electrical laboratory for the Naval Training Program). This proved to be a monumental task that took ten years to complete.
Burck started by making a complete survey of the space requirements known for the present and contemplated for the future. It was an outstanding job largely due to his efforts. Then came the first of many architectural designs that would satisfy these requirements. Many were discarded because their cost exceeded what the administration felt they had available from a prospective donor. Eventually, all conditions were compromised and the move to the new building, Phillips Hall (given by Ellis L. Phillips ‘95), was completed in January 1955.
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Throughout his life Burck’s recreation was his boats which he enjoyed with his family. In his younger years it was a thirty-foot single-masted motor sailer, the Kestrel, which he kept in immaculate condition (as he did his automobiles). In the summer months the family spent many hours on the Kestrel on Cayuga Lake and beyond.
A picture of Kestrel under full sail appeared on Ithaca/Cayuga Lake publicity brochures for many years. An interview with Burck, and details of the innovations he made on Kestrel were featured in a major article in Yachting Magazine. This is a reflection of the thought and excellence he brought to everything he dealt with. At the time of his retirement he acquired a cabin cruiser, the North Star, a larger boat with ocean going capability, on which he intended to live. He settled on the Marina at Marineland in Florida as the proper place to berth the boat. He and his wife, Elizabeth (retired as an associate professor emerita in ornamental horticulture at Cornell), continued to enjoy this form of living, with occasional trips out into the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf until they decided in 1984 it was time to go ashore. What eased the transition for Burck considerably was the fact that a suitable person appeared who offered to care for the boat and use it as Burck would.
T hey acquired a house in Palm Coast, Florida, not far from Marineland and were beginning to enjoy their new kind of living when Betty died suddenly in early 1985. Subsequently Burck went into a nursing home where he died.
Burck is survived by two sons, Lawrence L. of Peabody, Massachusetts and Peter A. of Somers, New York, both Cornell graduates; and four grandchildren."