Michael Burkart

Michael Paul Burkart

Michael Paul Burkart died at his home in San Francisco on July 3, 2021. He was the son of the late Frances Lois (Vincent) and William Jordan Burkart of Dallas, Texas. Summers spent on his grandparents' ranch in Montana, with his late beloved big brother, Jordan Vincent Burkart, instilled in him, a lifelong appreciation of the great outdoors.

Michael was a graduate of Highland Park High School in Dallas. He received his undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Texas in Austin. Military service in the U.S. Navy followed, as an intelligence officer with Fleet Intelligence Center Pacific on Ford Island, Hawaii. Michael spent his off-duty hours immersed in the culture and people of the islands, and he could also be found playing spirited beach volleyball games at Ft. DeRussey. After leaving the Navy, he went on to earn an MBA from Stanford University and spent a year working for the Dean of the Graduate School as a student loan officer. Michael began his working career as a sales representative in the banking division of IBM Corp. After three years, he decided that he was not suited to work for the rest of his career in a large corporation and resigned his position. He began working as a full-time volunteer for California Common Cause, concentrating on reforming campaign election financing laws. This interest in the field of financing and accounting led him to his true profession, that of accounting. He earned his CPA while at Arthur Young & Company, and he then spent the last 15 years before retirement as the chief financial officer at Hoefer Scientific Instruments, which later became Hoefer Pharmacia Biotech. Throughout his working career, he was respected and admired by those he worked for, and by those who worked for him, for his honesty, loyalty, kindness, and fairness. He was a truly ethical man.

Michael loved spending quality time with Naomi, his wife of many years, and with his relatives and friends. He enjoyed hiking and riding his bike during winters spent in Palm Desert and around the Bay Area when he was at home. He spent his happiest hours on the tennis courts at the Olympic Club at Lakeside, where he served as chairman of the tennis committee, and was instrumental in the construction of the clay courts at the tennis complex.

He will be missed by all. Michael was a humble man, a non-judgmental man, who enriched the lives of those who knew him.

Michael is survived by his wife, Naomi, sister-in-law Marcia Burkart, brothers-in-law Lester (Svetlana) and Ralph (Jeanette) Yaguchi, nieces Ashley (Matt) Mooney and Jana (Steve) Helms, nephews Fritz (Jennie) Burkart, Glen, Scott (Karen), and Douglas (Karen) Yaguchi, and several grand nieces and nephews.