Longtime BOCES Administrator Dies at 62 Ken Burr devoted his life to educating children, working to preserve the waters of his beloved Long Island Sound and enriching the lives of others. He was best known for his unwavering love and loyalty to his family and wide circle of friends. In July 2004, Burr was appointed Executive Director of the Career and Technical Education Division (CTE) for Western Suffolk BOCES. Under his leadership, the CTE Division grew to one of the largest public school Technical Education Programs in the State of New York. Burr began his career in 1977 as a teacher at Western Suffolk BOCES Manor Plains HS Campus, and was subsequently promoted to Assistant Principal and then Principal, before his appointment as Executive Director. A graduate of Cornell University, Burr received an MA degree from New York University. Burr served for many years on the Executive Board of the New York State Association for Career & Technical Education Administrators (ACTEA), the governing body for all technical education programs in the state and was elected President of the Long Island Chapter. Over the course of his career Burr was honored by many organizations including the Suffolk County Organization for the Promotion of Education, the New York State United Teachers, the New York State Council of Administrators and Supervisors and the Suffolk Association for Continuing Community Education. In 2013, Burr retired after 36 years of service to BOCES, in order to devote more time to the causes near and dear to his heart. He served as Suffolk County Legislator William Spencer’s Representative on the Long Island Water Quality Symposium and was a member of the Crab Meadow Watershed Advisory Committee. Additionally, he was a Red Cross Psychological Aid Volunteer, a member of the Northport UFSD Drug and Alcohol Task Force, and an Environmental Educator at Planting Fields Arboretum State Park and the Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park. Burr was extraordinarily devoted to his children’s athletic endeavors and spent many years coaching their sports teams, including Northport Youth Center Soccer League, CYO Basketball and the Northport Lacrosse Club, and was instrumental in bringing Girl’s Lacrosse to Northport Middle School. He served on the Corporal Christopher Scherer Fund Committee and as President of the Lacrosse Booster Club at Northport High School. A passionate outdoorsman, Burr was an avid fisherman and long distance runner, who shared his infectious enthusiasm with his large cadre of friends and family. He loved nothing more than fishing the waters in and around Huntington, and organizing friends for runs through the winding paths, woods and streets of the North Shore. In addition to running the New York City marathon several times, he traveled to both Philadelphia and Washington, DC to run marathons in those cities. A lifelong resident of Northport and Centerport, Burr passed away on February 20 after a six-month battle with brain cancer. He is survived by his childhood sweetheart and wife of 35 years, Gail; his children, Justine [Winston Blackburn] of Brooklyn and Travis [Mallory] of Manhattan; and his mother, Margaret, of Centerport.