Alan Lee Burkett passed away on Oct. 23, at the age of 68, surrounded by his loving family and friends. Alan was a beloved husband, father, brother, uncle and friend. Alan loved to row in the bay, swim in the ocean, backpack in the wilderness, ski in the backcountry, ride his bike anywhere, enjoy the art of word play and spend time with family.
Alan was undaunted in his endeavors, both academic and adventurous. His junior year in high school was spent in Stuttgart, Germany, on an exchange program. Alan made many friends during his exchange year. He was known as an excellent student who mastered the German language. Of course, he was also known as a stellar human being and took several bike trips throughout southwestern Germany. Upon his return, he helped Michael Ruiz prepare for his exchange year in Stuttgart and they became life long best friends.
Boy Scouts was a big part of his young life and he backpacked the entire John Muir trail within his time in scouts. This adventurous spirit continued to thrive as he did solo multi-day bike trips, backpacked in Desolation Wilderness among other destinations, did an Outward Bound course in Leadville, Colorado, and was one of the few people to summit Denali on his National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) course.
He attended Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo and then moved on to UC Berkeley, graduating in 1979 with a degree in Linguistics and a 4.0 GPA. He was a master at learning languages and at one time could speak multiple languages fluently. Patterns within each language were beautiful and fascinating to him and gave him the ability to experience the day to day with richness and curiosity. He then went on to study in UCLA’s Masters in Architecture program.
After college, he worked in Germany with his brother Morgan on a development project. He became a licensed architect and practiced architecture in San Luis Obispo and Bay Area firms for the first 25-plus years of his career.
He applied his design and construction knowledge and skills to managing projects for Banana Republic, the UC Berkeley campus, and Kaiser Permanente medical office buildings and hospitals. While working for Capital Projects at Cal Berkeley, he was instrumental in two specific buildings. Stanley Hall was finished in 2007 and at the time, it was the biggest, most expensive building on campus. Half of the building was underground so Alan referred to it as “Stanley Hole.” The other important project is the East Asian Library which was finished in 2008. It is a very important building because it was designed by world famous architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Alan played an essential role in getting this building through all the approval processes. People come from all over the world to see this gorgeous building. He finished his career at Kaiser Permanente, facilitating hundreds of medical building projects and shifting to the role of team manager.
He married his loving wife, Amy Guiang, in 1996 and his two children, Will (age 26) and Nina (age 23) were the absolute joy of his life. He soaked up every bit of being a husband and father and often spoke of how incredibly grateful he was for his family.
Alan was absolutely brilliant and at the very same time, humble and selfless. One example is that he was a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) for a young boy from 1997-2002. The mission of CASA in San Francisco, where Alan volunteered, is to transform the lives of children traumatized and displaced in the foster care and related systems by providing one consistent, caring volunteer advocate, trained to address each child’s needs in the court and community. CASA expects volunteers to be the constant in a child’s life, a person they can count on for compassion, guidance, advocacy, and information. Alan met this commitment with his whole heart. Also, in the ultimate act of selflessness, Alan donated his kidney to his brother Morgan in November of 2014. The successful donation of Alan’s healthy kidney gave Morgan the opportunity to regain his active life for a period of time that was precious for him and his family.
Alan is preceded in death by his parents, Lee and Martha Burkett, and three of his siblings, Lynne Watson-Jones, Morgan Burkett and Jack Burkett. He is survived by his wife, Amy Guiang, and his two children, Will and Nina Burkett. Also, his sister and brother-in-law, Emily and John Rundell, and his sisters-in-law Lori Burkett and Christine Burkett. In addition, he leaves behind an expansive group of nieces and nephews that all adored Uncle Alan.
Alan built a rich life beautifully connected to his family and friends, fully engaged with the outdoors and so strong and healthy. Yet, the real trick is that he knew this, absorbed this day to day, appreciated his life and those in it and communicated that clearly to those he loved. We will miss Alan everyday and at the same time reflect on the way he showed us how to live. For this we are eternally grateful.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that people consider a donation to CASA or to the National Kidney Foundation in honor of Alan.
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