Obituary of Robert Lewis Burgess

Dr. Robert Lewis Burgess, age 70, of 4049 LaFayette Road, Jamesville, New York died Saturday, March 16, 2002 from respiratory heart failure due to complications from lung cancer in Syracuse, New York. Dr. Burgess was born September 12, 1931 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the son of James Lewis and Hazel Lera-Mae (Warren) Burgess. He served in the Army as a cryptographer during the Post Korean War era. He received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and a Masters & Ph.D. of Botany from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He was a professor at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona; North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota; Pahlavi, Shiraz, Iran; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Environmental Science Division, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He was Chairman of Environmental and Forest Biology at SUNY ESF, Syracuse, New York from 1981 to 1997, retiring as Emeritus Professor in 1998. He was a member of Ecological Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, International Ecology Association, St. Paul's United Methodist Church, American Institute of Biological Society, the Nature Conservancy and former President of North Dakota Academy of Science. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, the former Vera Ballegoin; three daughters: Karen Elaine Thornton from Great Falls, Montana, Susan Patricia Keith from Cookeville, Tennessee, Ellen Kaihan Kimball from Knoxville, Tennessee; two sons: Steven Robert Burgess from Antioch, Tennessee, Jonathan Lewis Burgess from Decatur, Georgia; one sister: Patricia Burgess Chacon from Alabaster, Alabama; one brother: Keith Burgess from Milwaukee, Wisconsin; 13 grandchildren. A memorial service will be held Saturday, April 20, 2002, 2:00 p.m. at Hendricks Chapel, Syracuse University, with Rev. Harold Bruen and Rev. Donald Moody officiating. A reception will follow in the Noble Room. Private family burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery, Syracuse. Memorials may be made to ESF College Foundation, In Memory of Dr. Robert L. Burgess, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, New York, 13210; The American Cancer Society, 6725 Lyons Street, PO Box 7, East Syracuse, New York 13057-0007 or St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 2200 Valley Drive, Syracuse,New York, 13207