ELISABETH BURGER

BURGER--Elisabeth Owen, Died peacefully at home on December 22nd, 2013. She will always be remembered as a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She could always be counted on for wise counsel, emotional support, wonderful meals and a place to stay in New York. She was joined in these activities by her second husband, Chester Burger, who passed away in March, 2011. Elisabeth was an avid reader and traveler, having been to every continent. She was an elegant woman with a great sense of humor, and especially good at making puns! She was a wonderful hostess, and was gracious to all around her to the day she died. She graduated from Vassar, and trained as an economist early in her professional career. After World War II she joined the staff of the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland where she met and later married Arthur David Kemp Owen, with whom she had two sons, Michael and Hugh. He was Assistant-Secretary General for Economic Affairs at the United Nations, and later co-founded the United Nations Development Program. After retiring from the UN in 1969, Owen was knighted by Queen Elisabeth II and she became Lady Owen. After Sir David's death in 1970, she later married Chester Burger, a New York management consultant. Mrs. Burger continued to work as a consultant to state, national and international organizations and served in the United Nations Secretariat for International Women's Year in 1975. She was a member of the board of Directors of Planned Parenthood in New York, and a long time member of the Cosmopolitan Club. She is survived by her two sons, Michael David Owen of New York City, and Hugh Miller Owen of Mt. Jackson, VA, ten grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren, as well as five step-children, nine step-grandchildren, eight step-great-grandchildren and three grand-nieces.