Gregory Burke

Gregory P Burke, MD, Phd passed away on August 16, 2023 due to a chronic pulmonary illness. He was 78 years old.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years Nancy Bromley Burke and his son Patrick B. Burke and daughter-in-law Marta Dansie, as well as his brother Eugene F Burke, MD and sister Mary Judith Gedroiz.

Gregory was raised in Newark and Montclair, NJ. He graduated from Regis High School, Boston College and received his MD degree and Phd in Immunology from SUNY Downstate Medical School.

After becoming board certified in Oncology, he entered private practice briefly before joining the Food and Drug Administration in Washington. He became Head of Oncology Drug Approval at the FDA and then moved on to work for Novartis for a dozen years, both in Basel, Switzerland and New Jersey. He retired as Global Head of Oncology Drug Development at Novartis where he was proud of his role in developing Gleevec and Femora which were groundbreaking drugs in the field of Oncology and widely utilized today.

In retirement, Greg continued his passion for genetics and sought to interpret the family genome. He loved classical music and was an avid reader of biography, neuroscience and fiction. Greg was an advocate for suicide prevention and beleived in social justice. He will be remebered mostly for his devotion to the welfare of his family and the fact that he was geniuinely “a good guy”, one of the best.