Saratoga Springs - Colonel Michael F. Burke (U.S. Air Force Ret), beloved father, husband, brother and grandfather passed away May 3, 2009 in Glens Falls Hospital after a lengthy illness. He was 71. Mike was born January 3, 1938 in Saratoga Springs, NY. He served as the President of the 1955 senior class at St Peters Academy. Staying close to the ski slopes, he earned an English degree from St. Michaels College in Colchester, Vermont. He later earned an MBA from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Mike served in the U.S. Air Force from 1960 to 1989. He was trained and served as a Navigator on the C-47 Gooney Bird and the B-52 aircraft. While stationed in Marquette, Michigan he met Kathy Kelly (Captain USAF, deceased). They married and had three daughters. He was later stationed at the Strategic Air Command, Offutt Air Force Base and served a tour of duty in Vietnam. Mike also graduated from the Air War College, Maxwell AFB (Montgomery, Alabama). In 1978, he and the family moved to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium where he worked for the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations Plans and Programs. His next assignment was stateside at Hanscom AFB, Mass. He served on a seven man research team for Reagans Strategic Defense Initiative and later was assigned to a joint project with the Air Force and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Pentagon was Mikes final assignment with the Air Force. Upon retirement he continued his work in ballistic missile defense at Dynamics Research Corporation (DRC) and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). Mike had a great sense of humor, loved his family and his country. He fully retired in March of 2003 and made his way back to his beloved Saratoga Springs, NY and married Diana Murphy Burke in Feb 2006. He grew up just a few blocks from Saratoga Race Track on Lincoln Avenue and you could say horses were in his blood. Too tall to be a jockey (he was 6 3) he got his first job at the racetrack and followed the racing industry throughout his life. It is fitting that his last job would be at the National Museum of Racing doing research. He loved every minute of it. Mike is pre-deceased by his parents, David W and Catherine Burke, his brothers John and David Burke and his first wife, Kathy Burke. Survivors include his wife Diana Burke; his daughters Kate Kurtzke of Ashburn, VA, Chris Samisch of Valrico FL and Kerri-Rose Burke of Arlington VA; his stepson Joseph Murphy of Saratoga Springs; his grandchildren Stephen, Michael, Jack Kurtzke, Samantha, Sean and Clark Samisch, David and Tara Murphy; his sister Mary and brother-in-law Jack Fitzsimons of Tequesta, FL; sister-in-law Pat Burke of Saratoga Springs NY and sister-in-law Anne Burke of Newport RI as well as several nieces and nephews. Relatives and friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday May 7, 2009 at the William J. Burke & Sons/Bussing & Cunniff Funeral Homes, 628 N Broadway, 584-5373. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11a.m. Friday at St. Clement's Church, 231 Lake Ave. The Rev. Neil Draves-Arpaia will officiate. Burial with military honors will be at the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery, Duell Rd., Schuylerville. To say he will be missed is an understatement. He was much loved and gave back ten-fold. Donations in Mikes name may be made to the National Museum of Racing, 191 Union Avenue, Saratoga Springs NY or to the Hortense and Louis Rubin Dialysis Center, 59C Myrtle St, Saratoga Springs, NY.