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Sister Mary Burke, O.P., who began a ministry to immigrants and refugees at St. Rita’s Center in the Bronx, died Nov. 23 at Siena Hall Infirmary of Dominican Convent, Sparkill. She was 78.
Sister Mary was at St. Rita’s Center serving as program director at Adult Learning Center, New Rochelle, 2003-2014, and an education liaison at Theodore Roosevelt High School, the Bronx, 1989-2003.
She taught Msgr. Scanlan High School, the Bronx, 1972-1975; Thorpe Secretarial High School, Manhattan, 1964-1966; and St. Gregory Barbarigo, Garnerville, 1963-1964. She also served in Fulton, Queens and Brooklyn.
Born in New York City, she entered the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill in 1960 and professed final vows in 1967.
She received a bachelor’s degree in education from St. Thomas Aquinas College, Sparkill, and master’s degrees in business education from Baruch College, Manhattan, and religious education/youth ministry from Fordham University, the Bronx.
She is survived by her twin brother, William Burke, her sister, Eileen Considine, as well as nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements were private. Burial was in St. Agnes Cemetery, Sparkle.
