James Edmund Bourke -- beloved husband, father, grandfather, physician, and epic raconteur -- passed away peacefully April 9, 2026 in the Yonkers home whose books, artifacts, and Hudson River views he cherished. He is pre-deceased by his sister Mary; he is survived by his siblings, Liam, Nora, Carmel, and Catherine, and his six children, 13 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren, and Vera, his wife and confidante of forty-eight years.

Eddie crammed an enormous amount of living into his nearly nine decades. Born on August 27, 1937 in Dublin, Ireland to Molly and Ned Bourke, he was educated in an Irish language Christian Brothers school. In search of new vistas, he hightailed it to Paris as a teenager. A graduate in medicine of University College Dublin, he married physician Margaret Nevin in 1963 (from whom he separated in 1975). He did his residency in Dublin (where his daughter Jackie was born), worked as a research fellow in Kings College, London (where his son Richard was born), and moved as a medical researcher to Georgetown University Medical Center (where his daughter Charlotte and son Steven were born). He left the United States and returned to Dublin in 1969, joining the medical faculty and becoming a fellow at Trinity College, while treating patients with kidney disease and building the kidney program at the Meath Hospital. In 1977 he seized an opportunity to work in the Middle East, establishing a new kidney program at Kuwait University Hospital.

In 1979, Eddie emigrated to the United States, settling in Pittsburgh with fellow nephrologist, Dr. Vera Delaney, and her two young children Samantha and Stephen, whom he raised as his own. In his next three decades of medical practice, he saw patients and taught medical students at Emory University in Atlanta and at Downstate Medical Center in New York, where he became Chief of Medicine. His love of medicine and patient care translated into a teaching style that won him legions of mentees who have passed on -- and will continue to pass on -- to future generations both his vast medical knowledge and his animated teaching style. After retiring in 2009, Eddie entered the Life Long Learners Auditing Program at Columbia University, where he took courses in history, and did his best to resist the frequent impulse to correct the professors on small details.

It is hard to capture the range and depth of Eddie's passions – he delighted in other people's delight at his humor (coveting the laughter of his "Lady Veronica" more than any other's); he spoke the Irish language with a ferocious love of country; he recited poetry, often in exotic garb, and crafted his own off-color limericks; he had an insatiable appetite for new knowledge, tearing through The Economist and making a second home at Barnes and Noble; he traveled the world via airplanes, books, documentaries, and the strangers he befriended from countries and cultures far and wide; he danced with abandon, believing Elvis had nothing on his moves; he was as riveted by Tina Turner as he was by Fareed Zakaria; he smuggled antiques of all vintages (and questionable authenticity) into the house in the dead of night; and he offered his grandkids an infinite supply of ping pong, sing-a-longs, chess matches, side-splitting stories, and timeless hugs.

Eddie Bourke left such a profound mark on all who loved him that he will remain an ever-present force -- in our hearts, in our minds, in our laughter, and in our self-understanding.

Rest in Peace, Éamon de Búrca. There will never be another like you.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation in Eddie's honor to Doctors Without Borders, https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/, Saint Jude's Children's Hospital, https://www.stjude.org/, or the charity of your choice.