Ruth Burko's Biography

Ruth Burko (née Feldberg) was born in a private hospital on the Grand Concourse in 1927. She grew up briefly on Manor Avenue in the Soundview area, where her younger brother Harold was born. The family moved around a bit before finally settling in Pelham Gardens in 1941. In between this time, Ruth went to P.S. 66, the Herman Ridder Junior High School and finally James Monroe High, from which she graduated in 1944. That same year she met her husband, Marvin Burko, whom she shared an economics course with. The couple married in 1947 and bought a home on Arnow Avenue.

Ruth first started working on the weekend as a cashier at her uncle Hymie’s fruit and vegetable store on Lydig Avenue at the age of 12. Following high school, she worked as a secretary and office manager for the Law Office of Jules Shank, Esq. on 5th Avenue and 27th Street until two weeks before the birth of her first son Elliott in 1954. She attended Baruch College accounting and business courses in the evening, but it wasn’t until both of her sons, Elliott and Mitchell, started attending school that she became active in the community, elected first as President of the Parents Association for their elementary school, P.S. 121, then Vice President of her sons’ junior high school, M.S 135, and finally President of their Hebrew school, Community Center of Israel.

Ruth was appointed to Community Board 10 by Bronx Borough President Periconi in 1963, and in 1965, she ran the Allerton Avenue campaign office for Mayoral candidate John V. Lindsay. She was appointed to the position of City Marshal for the term of five years by the Mayor in 1967 and has been re-appointed ever since, happily serving as the longest active marshal in the City of New York currently.

When the district lines changed in 1977, Ruth and the rest of Pelham Gardens joined Community Board 11. Since that time, she has chaired the Education & Culture Committee and she’s been a member of the Health & Social Services, Housing, and Parks & Recreation Committees. She’s been serving as Board Secretary since 1995.