Andrew B. Burkhardt

Andrew Blaine Burkhardt, "Andy", whose news judgment and deft editing helped shape reports in The Providence Journal for decades, died May 3 after a 5-year struggle with Parkinson’s Disease. He was 78. ((DOB 5/19/42))

   Mr. Burkhardt, who died at Tockwotton on the Waterfront in East Providence, lived in Cranston, in a house a short walk from the Edgewood Yacht Club. A passionate sailor, usually on board his sloop Sojourn, he was a board member and then served as the club’s commodore in 2003. He sailed throughout New England waters as well as from Bermuda to Newport.  

   In 1987, when the America’s Cup race was held for the first time away from Newport, Mr. Burkhardt led a team of reporters and photographers dispatched to Australia to report on the contest.

  In his years at the Journal and its one-time sister newspaper, the now-defunct Evening Bulletin, Mr. Burkhardt held a number of editing positions. He retired as the Journal’s city editor in 2001. 

  He sang in the choir of Trinity Church and was a member of the board of the William Hall Library, both in Cranston.

    He was born in Louisville, KY but his family had deep roots across the Ohio River, in Cincinnati, where his family founded the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens in 1875, making it the second oldest zoo in the country. He grew up in Marshfield, MA, after his father was named to manage Eastern Airline Ops at Logan Airport. His mother, Cornelia Metcalfe Burkhardt was a homemaker.

  After graduating from Amherst College, where he played football and where he was president of his fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, he served in the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Reserve. He joined the Journal-Bulletin as an editor in 1964. 

  He and his first wife Lynn Lawwill Burkhardt lived in Barrington, where he was a member of the Barrington Yacht Club.  He is survived by their three daughters, Laura Ellen Harding of Portsmouth, NH, Elizabeth (Mimi) Sevin of Barrington and Katherine Grace Hodge of Aurora, CO., and two children, Andrew Clark Burkhardt and Mary C. (Molly) Burkhardt, both of Cranston, from his marriage to Mary (Mimi) Dolbier Burkhardt who died in 2004.

  He also leaves five grandchildren, Jameson and Julia Harding, Nicholas and Madeline Sevin and Hugo Hodge, as well as his brothers Barry Burkhardt of Richmond, VA and Bruce Burkhardt of Atlanta, GA, his sister, Elizabeth Burkhardt Sharrett of Emporia, VA, and ten nieces and nephews, as well as his sister-in-law, Stephanie H. Powell of Cranston. 

  A wake will be held at Jones Walton Sheridan Funeral Home at 1895 Broad Street Cranston, RI from 4 – 7 pm on 05/14/21 and a funeral service will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church at 139 Ocean Avenue, Cranston, RI at 1 pm 05/15/21. Burial will be private. A celebration of life reception will be held at the Edgewood Yacht Club date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Rock Steady Boxing, a gym program dedicated to the fight against Parkinson’s Disease, at https://www.rocksteadyboxing.org/donate.

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