{"id":216944,"date":"2026-04-28T13:25:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/?p=216944"},"modified":"2026-04-28T13:25:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:25:48","slug":"rita-burke-73-passes-the-baton-with-a-legacy-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/2026\/04\/28\/rita-burke-73-passes-the-baton-with-a-legacy-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"Rita Burke \u201973 Passes the Baton with a Legacy Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was an experience she had as a teenager that inspired Rita Burke \u201973 to pursue a career as a music teacher for special needs children. \u201cMy church\u2019s youth group organized a visit to a special education school,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI brought my portable record player and some records. I saw the positive impact the music had on the children. It made a profound impression on me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Affordability and scholarship support brought Rita to Montclair. \u201cI received an award from an association of World War II veterans that my father belonged to,\u201d she says. \u201cI received additional support from the University through a program that rewarded students preparing for careers in teaching.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After completing her degree, she returned to her hometown to join the school district\u2019s special education team as a music teacher. During Rita\u2019s successful 35-year career, she was named Teacher of the Year by the State of New Jersey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMontclair provided me with an excellent foundational college education,\u201d she says. \u201cI am truly grateful for my professors who actively listened and inspired me to develop various ways to teach music to all students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When considering the philanthropic aspects of her estate plans, Rita thought of Montclair. \u201cI had been putting off updating my will,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I learned that I could use my estate to set up a scholarship for students majoring in music education, however, I got excited about the possibilities. It was a great feeling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cPeople tend to look at estate planning as the end of things,\u201d she adds. \u201cBut when you establish a scholarship at Montclair, you are carrying your legacy forward, passing the baton to new generations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Rita Burke \u201973, Montclair was the springboard to success as a music teacher \u2013 a career that she loved. By including the University in her estate plans, she will provide scholarship support for future generations of music educators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":493,"featured_media":216948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76_alumni-news-and-events","category-77_alumni-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/493"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216947,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216944\/revisions\/216947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}