|
Dr. Charles A. Burden, age 85, died June 1, 2023 of Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Burden was a Professor Emeritus of Organizational Behavior at Georgia State University. He was married to Dr. Elke M. Burden, originally of Berlin, Germany. He and Elke were married 50+ years.
Charles Burden grew up in the cotton mill town of Piedmont, SC. He left Piedmont High School early to attend Clemson University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. After graduating, he spent brief period as a recording technician at radio station WWDC in Washington, DC, then trained as an investigator for the US Dept. of Labor. Charles was a veteran of the US Air Force, and also served in the Tennessee Air National Guard.
After spending time with the US Dept. of Labor and the US Air Force, he made his way to Atlanta, Georgia, where he entered Graduate School at Georgia State University. As a National Defense Education Fellow, he earned his Doctorate in 1970. Charles then embarked on a 40-year teaching career. He taught initially at Clemson University, then returned to GSU. During this period, he often also worked as a contractor for the US Department of Defense through the University of Maryland, European Division. Retiring, he continued to regularly give lectures abroad in many countries, including Germany, France, Great Britain, Poland and China.
Elke and he eventually were abroad on assignments or holidays for parts of 50+ straight years. Visiting the mountains, hiking, having afternoon tea with good conversation: these were a few of the low-key pleasures enjoyed by Elke and Charley.
He was predeceased by father and mother, Fred and Willie Stewart Burden. He is survived by wife, Elke Maron Burden; by brother; sister-in-law, Bill and Jean Burden; and numerous nephews and nieces, and grand-nephews and grand-nieces.
-----------------
Published by Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jun. 11, 2023. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/atlanta/name/charles-burden-obituary?id=52202654
|
Joe Arden
The "In Memory" postings on the OMA Website almost always bring back memories that touch me personally. I was with the Maryland overseas program for 40 years (1967-2007) and often knew personally the colleague who had passed away. Usually, I don’t add comments, especially when others closer to the person memorialized have provided more meaningful memories than I could.
Charley Burden, however, is an exception. He and I, as well as his wife (Elke), met in 1971-72 when Charley joined the European Division as a full-time faculty member in economics and business. Elke, also an experienced teacher, taught German language. When they arrived, I was in Heidelberg as the Mediterranean Area Director and over the next two academic years Charley taught in Rota, Aviano, Torrejon (Madrid) and Heraklion.
In subsequent decades, whenever Charley had sabbatical or a leave of absence from his professorship at Georgia State University, he and Elke would return to teach with the European Division. And, over those years I interacted with Charley fairly often and came to know him well. Sadly, Rosemary Hoffmann, who passed away earlier this year, was perhaps the only other active OMA member who would have been able to comment about Charley. Given Rosemary’s role as an Area Director, administrator of the foreign language program and fellow teacher of German, likely knew Elke and Charley well.
Charles was a very good teacher—respected and liked by his students. He also was a very good human being. Whenever I think of Charley Burden, the term, "Decent Person" comes to my mind. He was very certainly that.
I last spent time with Charley and Elke in the fall of 2019 at that year's OMA Gathering in Heidelberg. We had dinner together at the small Indian restaurant on Bahnhofstrasse behind what was then the Crowne Plaza Hotel. I had not seen either of them for more than 20 years. It was a great pleasure for me...to see them both.
At that time, Charley informed me that he had a serious illness...that would at some point probably take his life. I do not know if that was what finally caught up with him.
I do know that Charley Burden was a genuinely good person.