Alan Ray Burkart

Alan Ray Burkart, 88, passed away suddenly on Friday, May 17, 2019. Born in Cleveland, OH, he was the son of Phillip and Marian Burkart. He graduated from Case Institute of Technology, now Case Western Reserve University, with a B.S. in metallurgical engineering. Alan then served our country as a second lieutenant bombardier/navigator in the U.S. Air Force after graduating with honors from aircraft observer training.

Alan had a distinguished career in the business world. During his career, he was employed by Alcoa, Wyman Gordon, and Kawecki Berylco. As he and his family moved to and lived in several states, his continued success as a sales engineer earned him numerous promotions. He and our family were rightly proud of his final position as president of Columbian Chemicals Co., now Birla Carbon, which specializes in precious metals and carbon black. Alan’s other career highlights included being the project engineer for Alcoa on the Mercury space capsule, meeting the queen of Hungary to negotiate building a carbon black facility there, and authoring two patents.

Alan is survived by his wife of 65 years, Eleanor Santos Burkart; his four children, Alan Burkart, Eleanor Edwards, Elaine Pace, and Leslie Stricek; three grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and many nieces and nephews.

He enjoyed traveling the world with his wife and taking exotic Christmas vacations with his extended family.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a contribution to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (click here: https://www.stjude.org ) in Alan’s name.