Ellen Burbank, former executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and program officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, has died at 77
She traveled the world as the daughter of a CIA agent and was a tireless advocate for education, communication, travel, culture, and the arts.
Ellen Burbank, 77, of Philadelphia, former executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, program officer for education at the Pew Charitable Trusts, retired executive director of the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum in Massachusetts, corporate executive, nonprofit leader, and civic advocate, died Monday, May 15, of congestive heart failure at her home in Center City.
The daughter of a CIA agent who raised his family in Massachusetts, Washington, Switzerland, and Tunisia, Mrs. Burbank was an international citizen at a young age, and her experiences with languages and cultures sparked a lifelong interest in communications, community affairs, education, travel, and the arts.
She was executive director and secretary of the board of directors at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance from 1976 to 1980 and officer for the education program at the Pew Charitable Trusts from 1987 to 2001. She was also assistant vice president of public relations and community affairs at Western Savings Bank, and assistant vice president of community affairs at Philadelphia Savings Fund Society from 1980 to 1984.
Earlier, she worked as a caseworker for the New York City Department of Welfare, in public relations and with the Council for the Arts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and as head of the applications section of the grants office at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington.
She became executive director of the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum after she left Pew, and retired for good in 2011. “She made friends wherever she was,” said her husband Steve, “and, because of her extraordinary discretion, she was a trusted confidante.”
Mrs. Burbank also served as a communications consultant to the University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, national nonprofit Jobs for the Future, and other organizations. She was on boards at the Rosenbach museum and library, Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Philadelphia Urban Coalition, Delaware Valley Grantmakers, and other groups.
She was a trustee at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, and served on committees at WHYY media, Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania, Directory of Pennsylvania Foundations, National Museum of the American Indian, and United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
“She was a remarkable person,” her husband said. “She was smart and had a great work ethic. She was always helping people.”
Ellen Randolph Coolidge was born Aug. 4, 1945, in Waltham, Mass. She was a direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson, her family said, and graduated from Rosemary Hall in Connecticut and Finch College in New York in 1967.
She took graduate classes in arts administration at Harvard University and the Aspen Institute in Colorado, and was in college when she met Harvard College student Steve Burbank. They married in 1970, spent a year in Europe and north Africa, and lived in Boston and Washington before settling in Philadelphia in 1975. They lived in Center City and had son Peter in 1981.
Mrs. Burbank spent much of her time in the early 2000s at the family’s second home on Cape Cod and became a trustee at her son’s current home, New England Village, an independent living community for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She found ways to handle dyslexia as a child before she knew what it was and dealt with an autoimmune disease for decades.
“She was an incredible kick-ass career woman and mom before that was even a thing,” a friend said in a tribute. Her husband said she lived with “determination and grace.”
Mrs. Burbank liked to power walk, play tennis, and poke around in her garden. She became a vegetarian, traveled as often as possible to Paris and London, and shopped for tiny treasures and bargains at markets around the world. She worked at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance with Lisa Halaby, who went on to become Queen Noor of Jordan, and received Christmas cards for years from the royal family.
A friend described her as “beautiful, fun, funny, caring, and a keenly observant and humble woman.” She usually greeted her son on their daily telephone call with: “What’s up, Tootsie Roll?”
Her husband said: “She was a devoted mother who made tense times less tense with her sense of humor. She was wonderful.”
In addition to her husband and son, Mrs. Burbank is survived by a sister and other relatives. Her twin brother and a sister died earlier.
Services on Cape Cod and in Philadelphia are to be held later.
Donations in her name may be made to New England Village, 664 School St., Pembroke, Mass. 02359