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Deaf Riverside educator accomplishes another first | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California
Gerald "Bummy" Burstein has earned another first.
He's already the first deaf person in the world to become a certified professional parliamentarian.
He's been credited as the first person to introduce to America the famous deaf applause -- hands waving in the air -- after he saw the gesture in France.
In 1999, the Riverside resident became the first deaf person to establish a chair at his alma mater, Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., which attracts mostly hearing-impaired students.
Now fully endowed at $1 million, Burstein's gift is called "The Bummy Chair." That's because the 81-year-old colorful cutup, whose porkpie cap emblazoned with Gallaudet seems bolted to his head, doesn't answer to Gerald.
College friends christened him "Bummy" after his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, who were called "dem bums" by fans and who came to be symbolized by cartoonist Willard Mullin's drawings of a bum.
"Bummy" is inscribed or inked on the many plaques and honorary degrees the Brooklyn-born Burstein has been awarded during his 52 years as an educator -- 37 of them at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside.
Besides his trademark porkpie, he has donned many other hats, including those of community activist, author, media technology guru, teacher and workshop presenter.
Despite his reputation as a funny man, always ready with a quip, Burstein is serious about pushing deaf students to aim high.
"My three years at Gallaudet gave me a great education and self-esteem," Burstein said through an interpreter. "I want to offer students the same leadership opportunities that I had."
Doris Parent, senior development officer at Gallaudet, said the school is ecstatic about Burstein's gift. "We don't have that many endowed chairs," she said. "It's wonderful to see this passion from one of our alumni."
Burstein is encouraging the university to offer a class in philanthropy. When asked why he is the first deaf person to fund an endowment at a school that has been around since 1864, he replied: "Deaf people are not trained to donate. Many have large families and leave the money to them."
He also said that many deaf people have a tough time getting a job. "They're rarely promoted because bosses don't want to be bothered with them."
Although born totally deaf, Burstein learned to lip-read and intelligibly speaks the words as he signs. He doesn't claim to be a millionaire but said he was able to fund Gallaudet's chair through savings and smart investments.
He owns the house he bought 38 years ago in an upscale section of Riverside. Vic Karidakes remembers how as a boy, he and other neighborhood kids loved hanging out at Burstein's.
"He and his wife would serve punch and cookies and show reel-to-reel Disney movies," recalls Karidakes, who now works at Smith Barney and is Burstein's financial adviser.
Burstein has no children and lives alone with works he has collected from deaf artists. His wife, Theresa, also deaf, whom he met at Gallaudet, taught disabled children. She died at 49 in a freeway accident involving a drunken driver in 1973.
"I never remarried," Burstein said, "because all these women were lined up and if I picked one, I was afraid the rest would shoot themselves."
After college graduation, the kid from Brooklyn taught math to deaf students for 15 years in Faribault, Minn., a job he repeated for two years in Riverside before his promotion to administrator.
Since he retired in 2002, the first order of business was spreading the gospel of how to properly run a meeting. He's written a book, "Bummy's Successful Meeting Procedures" and produced a video, "Bummy's Basic Parliamentary Workshop."
With no signs of slowing down, Burstein parlays his passion for parliamentary procedure into the workshops he presents all over the continent.
"And that's just my daytime life," he said with a wink.
Gerald "Bummy" Burstein has earned another first.
He's already the first deaf person in the world to become a certified professional parliamentarian.
He's been credited as the first person to introduce to America the famous deaf applause -- hands waving in the air -- after he saw the gesture in France.
In 1999, the Riverside resident became the first deaf person to establish a chair at his alma mater, Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., which attracts mostly hearing-impaired students.
Now fully endowed at $1 million, Burstein's gift is called "The Bummy Chair." That's because the 81-year-old colorful cutup, whose porkpie cap emblazoned with Gallaudet seems bolted to his head, doesn't answer to Gerald.
College friends christened him "Bummy" after his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, who were called "dem bums" by fans and who came to be symbolized by cartoonist Willard Mullin's drawings of a bum.
"Bummy" is inscribed or inked on the many plaques and honorary degrees the Brooklyn-born Burstein has been awarded during his 52 years as an educator -- 37 of them at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside.
Besides his trademark porkpie, he has donned many other hats, including those of community activist, author, media technology guru, teacher and workshop presenter.
Despite his reputation as a funny man, always ready with a quip, Burstein is serious about pushing deaf students to aim high.
"My three years at Gallaudet gave me a great education and self-esteem," Burstein said through an interpreter. "I want to offer students the same leadership opportunities that I had."
Doris Parent, senior development officer at Gallaudet, said the school is ecstatic about Burstein's gift. "We don't have that many endowed chairs," she said. "It's wonderful to see this passion from one of our alumni."
Burstein is encouraging the university to offer a class in philanthropy. When asked why he is the first deaf person to fund an endowment at a school that has been around since 1864, he replied: "Deaf people are not trained to donate. Many have large families and leave the money to them."
He also said that many deaf people have a tough time getting a job. "They're rarely promoted because bosses don't want to be bothered with them."
Although born totally deaf, Burstein learned to lip-read and intelligibly speaks the words as he signs. He doesn't claim to be a millionaire but said he was able to fund Gallaudet's chair through savings and smart investments.
He owns the house he bought 38 years ago in an upscale section of Riverside. Vic Karidakes remembers how as a boy, he and other neighborhood kids loved hanging out at Burstein's.
"He and his wife would serve punch and cookies and show reel-to-reel Disney movies," recalls Karidakes, who now works at Smith Barney and is Burstein's financial adviser.
Burstein has no children and lives alone with works he has collected from deaf artists. His wife, Theresa, also deaf, whom he met at Gallaudet, taught disabled children. She died at 49 in a freeway accident involving a drunken driver in 1973.
"I never remarried," Burstein said, "because all these women were lined up and if I picked one, I was afraid the rest would shoot themselves."
After college graduation, the kid from Brooklyn taught math to deaf students for 15 years in Faribault, Minn., a job he repeated for two years in Riverside before his promotion to administrator.
Since he retired in 2002, the first order of business was spreading the gospel of how to properly run a meeting. He's written a book, "Bummy's Successful Meeting Procedures" and produced a video, "Bummy's Basic Parliamentary Workshop."
With no signs of slowing down, Burstein parlays his passion for parliamentary procedure into the workshops he presents all over the continent.
"And that's just my daytime life," he said with a wink.