On September 3, 2010, Rosie Mares introduced David Burke to give his craft talk.

David Burke is General Manager of Westfield Shopping Town in Arcadia. He has been a member of Rotary from April, 2010.

David’s paternal grandparents were Dorothy (“Dottie”) and Joseph Francis Burke. Joseph was a song-writer, composer and conductor. He was also in the record industry. Among the latter’s albums are “Lady and the Tramp” and “Frank Sinatra, a Man and his Music.” In 1945, the couple and their children (including David’s father) moved from New York to Hollywood.

David’s maternal grandparents were Alice and Albert Marshall Loomis. Albert founded Western Sample Book and Supply Company. In WWII The company supplied samples to the military. They and their children (including David’s mother) had moved to Los Angeles in 1928.

David’s parents were married in 1971, having met while his mother was a student at USC. In 1974, David was born. His brothers were Danny and Michael.

David had a Catholic education, attending Corpus Christi School in Pacific Palisades, followed by Loyola High School. His extracurricular activities included football and track (shot-put and discus throw). David then went into a very different venue, attending college at U.C. Santa Barbara where academics competed with athletics (Rugby) and fun at the beach. He graduated from U.C., Santa Barbara in 1996.

David spent the next three years (1996-1999) in Manhattan Beach. First he worked for Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Then he moved on to Platinum Capital where he made real estate loans, meeting mortgage loan officers. To achieve greater flexibility, he successfully studied for the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test).

David then did two years of graduate studies at the University of San Diego, graduating in 2001 with his MBA and MSIT (Master of Science in Information Technology).

As a result of the negative economic impact of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on this country, David moved back to Los Angeles to live with his parents.

David then received two job offers: one from a bank and the other from Urban Retail Properties, an affiliate of Rodamco. David became manager of Urban Retail Properties in Century City. In 2002, Rodamco was acquired by an Australian firm, Westfield. David ended up working for Westfield.

For the next one and a half years, David was managing Westfield’s Century City property. During this period, he met his future wife Kate.

Westfield then asked David to manage its Santa Ana property. By moving in with Kate, David was able to cut 35 minutes off of his commute. In Santa Ana, as Assistant General Manager, David found a chaotic situation with employees leaving. While confronting this situation, he proposed to Kate.

Westfield then gave David the opportunity to move to San Jose. Kate wondered if David had proposed so that he would not have to move to San Jose by himself. In 2004, they moved to San Jose where David managed Westfield’s Oakridge Shopping Mall.

Also in 2004, David and Kate were married. In 2005 their son Declan was born. (Meanwhile, also in 2005, at age 62, David’s father graduated from Cal. State University in Domingos Hills.)

David was then promoted to manage another Westfield Mall in San Jose, this time the one in Valley Fair. In 2007, they bought a house. In 2008 their second son Logan was born.

Then in July, 2009, Westfield called upon David to manage its Santa Anita mall. David and Kate rented out their San Jose home and relocated their family (Declan, age 4, and Logan, age 2, to Hastings Ranch. They have friends in Santa Barbara in the wine business.

A mall manager’s role is multi-faceted. For example, he must keep the mall free of overly-amorous kids and the food court free of vagrants. Also there are political aspects in mall operations.

David was recruited into Arcadia Rotary by Sho Tay and Frank Hall. He is interested in mentoring and teaching about mentoring.