Michael Burd

NEW BERN, N.C. -The world lost a most amazing soul on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. Michael Anthony Burd, age 61, of New Bern, North Carolina, passed away after a brief illness. He was held by his two children and his loving partner as he transitioned.

Mike was a son, brother, father, and grandfather and friend. He was a loving, kind, generous, fun person, who loved meeting new people, making people laugh, and creating memorable experiences with his friends and loved ones.

Growing up, Mike was an athlete and creative. He played guitar, sang in choir, and participated in theater. He played baseball, ran cross-country, and excelled as a high school and collegiate wrestler. He shared his love of wrestling with his son. Mike remained lifelong friends with his best friends and fellow athletes from Angola High School, Greg Kuhn and Jim Eggelston. Mike attended Ball State University, where he wrestled, was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in business.

In his career, Mike was a master sales professional and pioneer in the prepackaged food industry. He was an expert at creating distribution solutions for Meals on Wheels organizations across the U.S., instrumental in setting up the largest meal manufacturing companies in the United States, and providing frozen meals and emergency meals to hundreds of programs. He was one of the few people in the industry who could boast having visited nearly every Meals on Wheels program in the continental United States. Throughout his 35 years experience, Mike maintained an untold number of business friendships that fed his success.

In his personal life, Mike loved sailing from an early age and was proud to have logged more than 10,000 miles under sail - which he memorialized with a swallow tattoo. Mike sailed each of the Great Lakes, and circumnavigated most of the Caribbean. He and his wife, Nancy Van Natta Burd, were members of the Brookeville Sailing Club in Brookeville, Indiana, for many years, and were long-time members of the Cincinnati Ski Club. Mike and Nancy ultimately relocated their lives and their yacht Windswept to New Bern, North Carolina, where they continued to make community amongst other sailors along the inner and outer banks.

Mike felt great pride in his children, Andrew Burd, of Nashville, Tennessee, and Erin Muntzert and her husband, Ian, of Portland, Oregon; and he was crazy about his grandchildren, Alice, Violet and Oskar. His days of travel for business and hard, rewarding work, were often celebrated by finding ease with friends and family, sailing, playing board games, and sharing stories and laughs over a meal.

In addition to his children, Mike is survived by his life partner, Nancy Kimball; his father, Eugene Burd, and his partner, Peggy Mason; his brother, Chris Burd, and his partner, Rhonda Bradshaw, all of Angola, Indiana; a brother, Jeff Burd, and his wife, Michelle, of Gurnee, Illinois; a sister, Joan Burd, and her partner, Mike Halikowski, of Indianapolis, Indiana; and his nephews, Ben Burd, and his wife, Bailey, of Knob Noster, Missouri, and AJ Wilson and his wife, Carrie, of Angola, Indiana; and a sister-in-law, Nora Burd, of West Palm Beach, Florida.

Mike was preceded in death by his mother, Patricia Burd; by his wife, Nancy Van Natta Burd, originally of Fairfield, Ohio; and, his brother, Rob Burd, of West Palm Beach, Florida.

To honor his memory, Mike and his family request that a donation be made to Meals on Wheels of America.