Dan Burke, a publishing executive in the facility management, commercial design, planning, and retrofit industry, passed away suddenly on December 6, 2020, at the age of 54.
In the early 1990s, Dan was the national sales manager for FACILITIES Design & Management magazine, group ad sales director for FACILITIES and Contract magazines, and went on to become the publisher of Contract magazine. In the mid-1990s, he founded Burke Media Group in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, where he provided his expertise and sales experience for myriad print, digital, industry events, and more. Dan and his team had a complete understanding of the national advertising client and agency markets, offering a strong work ethic along with a winning attitude.
Known for his high-energy, engaging, and fun-loving style, Dan was popular with the editors, media sales colleagues, and a wide array of friends in the industry. He was always greeting clients and friends while collecting stacks of business cards at NeoCon, World Workplace, NFMT, AHR Expo, AIA, Lightfair, and many more trade shows. Scores of business colleagues and clients enjoyed robust rounds at the bar with Dan after the day’s work was done.
Dan also was a wildly talented salsa and jazz trumpet player which allowed him to travel all over the world doing what he most loved. Blending publishing days with trumpet-playing nights, Dan often performed in gigs along the Jersey Shore, not far from his Monmouth Beach home. Seen sleeping while embracing his trumpet on a flight from Newark to Chicago, Dan was resting up for a day of advertising sales before playing at the NeoCon party of an industry client. He brought the house down for hundreds on that warm, memorable summer NeoCon night.
Dan loved sports and was an avid New York Giants, Yankees, and Rutgers University fan.
Predeceased by his parents Joseph & Lucina, Dan is survived by his sister Lucia and brothers Joe (Dara), Frank (Carolina), James, Dave (Jan), and his stepson Eddie McManus, as well as many nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his long-time love and partner, Kathleen McVey.