Brian Hudson Burke
Brian Hudson Burke passed away after a brief illness at the age of 81 on April 28, 2025 in Santa Barbara, California.
He is survived by his loving wife Alice (Esbenshade), their golden retriever Sassy, his children Amy Jane (Peter) and Traford (Natalia), stepson Andy (Georgie), grandchildren Lily, Lulu, Billy, and Perry, his brother Bruce (Julia) and his nieces and nephews Sebastian, Addison, Anne, Claire, Lief, Elaine and Theo. He was predeceased by his parents Lloyd and Virginia Burke, and his grandparents, James and Edna Burke, and Tom and Mary Kerchum.
He held many fond memories of his childhood, especially times with his grandparents. It was his grandmother who took him as an adolescent to see the young Elvis Presley perform in San Francisco, not once, but twice. Reared in Piedmont, California he was educated at UCSB and UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). Upon graduation he joined the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. Due to his ROTC training at UCSB, he was shortly thereafter inducted into the US Army.
With good intentions, his father, the late US District Judge Lloyd H. Burke, recommended to a general that his son be transferred from the tank corps to the Judge Advocate General Office, a local and safer station. Two days after the intervention he was fast tracked to Vietnam as an intelligence officer. He was sent to Kien Phong province, where he was recognized for his leadership, including the design and implementation of a sustainable water sanitation system for the local community. For his service he was awarded the Bronze Star.
After the army, he rejoined the District Attorney’s office, prosecuting felonies in Alameda County. He and his first wife, the artist Jane Mason Burke, moved with baby Amy from Oakland to the tranquility of Santa Barbara, where their son Traford was born.
After a few years with the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office and then the law firm of Westwick & Collison, Brian shifted his work to family law, becoming a Certified Family Law Specialist and a partner at Mullen & Henzell. It was during this time that he and Jane divorced. He went on to establish a private practice, determined to develop ideas he had fostered for a fresh approach to family law. This common interest in family law brought him together with his second wife, Alice, a Court Mediator.
Shortly after marrying Alice, Brian took an 18-month sabbatical to study how he could do family law in a way that provided more humane outcomes. He developed protocols that feature consultation, encourage mediation and that minimize litigation, seeking to reduce the emotional toll of divorce proceedings on families. Brian shared his expertise through teaching, lectures, and publications. His 2007 scholarly paper, “Santa Barbara Divorce: a Six-Year Longitudinal Study” demonstrated that divorce timelines more often mirrored the grieving process of families, while procedural matters interfered by rushing what is inherently a psychological process. From 2011- 2019, he enjoyed exploring the complexities of divorce and family law in a weekly column at Noozhawk entitled “About Your Divorce.” Brian retired last year.
Beyond his legal career, Brian had an insatiable curiosity and wide-ranging interests. He was an exceptional correspondent. Autocorrect often changed his signature to “Brain”, a joke that he ran with. As a writer of gorgeous letters with a lively intellect, he showed humility, humanity, and deep kindness with a dollop of incredible humor. His voice was wonderfully expressive, a commanding but soft presence. He loved music and was a huge fan of Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro.”
He greatly enjoyed his son Traford’s years at Santa Barbara Middle School, where he joined the Board of Trustees and participated in the bicycle rides. He was known for diving deeply into passion projects ranging from serious research such as a detailed study of the Vietnam war, to lighter pursuits such as exploring the expeditions of Mungo Park and Henry Morton Stanley. During the COVID years, he compiled a study of the names of golden retrievers on local beaches. He was even known to take on major sewing projects, creating a series of custom-made canvas rolls to hold prized scissors and fine tools. He named these “Mammy’s Duck” after his grandmother. One of his great joys was the decade-plus he spent with his therapy dog Lollipop visiting patients at Cottage Hospital and the Cottage Rehabilitation Institute.
Brian is deeply missed by his friends and family.
A Memorial is in the planning stages. Donations in his memory may be made to the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden for maintenance of the Japanese Tea House and to Santa Barbara Middle School.
