Rufus Bradford Burnham, Jr. 90, of Vero Beach, and Fishers Island, N.Y., formerly of Hudson, Ohio, died on Dec. 21, 2011, at Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach.
Born on May 30, 1921, in Larchmont, N.Y., Burnham was the son of Louise Campbell Burnham and Rufus Bradford Burnham.
He went to Yale and graduated with the class of 1944.
He attained the rank of lieutenant while serving in the Marine Corps., and survived front line combat on Iwo Jima.
Returning home at the end of World War II, Burnham joined the sales force of Samuel Moore & Company in Mantua, Ohio, and o became president and CEO, and helped build the plastics manufacturer into an eighty million dollar company by the time he retired in 1984.
He and his wife, Anne, settled in Hudson, Ohio, where they raised their five children and lived for four decades.
Burnham was one of the founders of the Hudson Montessori School and an active supporter of Western Reserve Academy.
He was also a board member of the Yale Club of the Treasure Coast during his years in Vero Beach.
As president of the Fishers Island Civic Association, Burnham worked to expand and strengthen the year round population which he saw as essential to the long term health of this small island off the coast of Connecticut.
He was the driving force behind the formation of Walsh Park which made affordable housing available for permanent residents and he successfully pushed to provide a year round pastor for the island’s Union Chapel.
Burnham was an active parishioner at Christ Church in Hudson, Ohio, and the Union Chapel on Fishers Island, N.Y., as well as at Christ Church in Vero Beach.
When he settled in Florida with his second wife, Joan, Burnham directed his prodigious energies and fund raising abilities toward the Indian River Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity.
Over the course of the next eleven years, more than 40% of Moorings residents participated in sponsoring 51 homes. Brad later successfully challenged five other prominent residential communities to follow the Moorings’ lead; now nearly half of all Indian River Habitat homes are sponsored by these neighborhoods.
In recognition of his contributions to Habitat for Humanity, Burnham was honored in 2008 as an Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser at the Association of Fundraising Professionals National Philanthropy Day; in 2010, the Moorings Property Owners Association presented him with the Moorings Distinguished Community Service Award.
Survivors include his wife, Joanie; children: Robin Owen, of Bozeman, Mont., R. Bradford Burnham III, of New York, N.Y., Sarah Malinowski and David C. Burnham II, of Fishers Island, N.Y., and Rachel Van Voorhis, of Mattapoisett, Mass.; sixteen grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; step-sons: H. Grady Barrett III, of Kansas City, Mo., John H. Barrett, of San Antonio, Texas, and Andrew L. Barrett, of Powell, Ohio; eight step-grandchildren; and his brother, David Burnham, of Rehoboth, Mass.
Burnham was predeceased by his sisters, Elinor Burnham and Helen B. Ward.
A celebration of Brad Burnham’s life will be held on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, at 4 p.m. at Christ Church Vero Beach; a summer memorial service on Fishers Island is being planned.
Contributions in Burnham’s memory can be made to the Habitat for Humanity, Indian River Chapter, 4568 North Highway, US 1, Vero Beach, FL 32967 or Christ Church, 925 14th Lane, Vero Beach, FL 32960.
