William J. “Bill” Burke, 87, died April 12, 2010 at Royal Palm Convalescent Center in Vero Beach.
He was born in Nashville and lived in Vero Beach for 17 years coming from Blowing Rock, N.C.
He graduated cum laude in Accounting from the University of Florida and has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1949. He was a retired partner of Coopers & Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers.
He was a member of the Florida Institute and American Institute of CPA’s for 34 years and past President of the Ft. Lauderdale Rotary Club and Blowing Rock Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow; Past District Governor of Rotary International, District 699 in Southeastern Florida; Past Commodore of the Ft. Lauderdale Yacht Club; a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale and served on the Finance Committee; held the office of Elder, Chairman of the Finance and Historical Committees of the Rumple Memorial Church in Blowing Rock, N.C. and was Past President of The Blowing Rock Community Foundation.
He was the author of Blueprint for Professional Service Corporations published by Dun & Bradstreet, Accounting Systems for Law Offices published by Matthew Bender and Auditing God’s Books.
He served in the United States Navy on the USS Elmore in the Pacific during World War II.
Survivors include his wife of 36 years, Judy Burke of Vero Beach; son, William A. Burke of Titusville; sister, Martha (Hal) Waters of Bellefontaine, Ohio; 3 granddaughters and 1 great-grandson.
He was preceded in death by his daughter, Kathleen K. Allee.
A Graveside Service will be at 11 a.m., April 17, 2010 at Lauderdale Memorial Park in Ft. Lauderdale. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Blowing Rock Community Foundation, PO Box 525, Blowing Rock, NC 28605.
A guestbook may be signed at www. strunkfuneralhome.com. Arrangements by Strunk Funeral Home and Crematory Vero Beach, FL.
