Harold L. Burshtan, age 90, a resident of Wheaton, IL died October 13, 2020 of natural causes. He was born May 4, 1930 to Sam & Esther Burshtan in Chicago, IL. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Kathleen; his children David (Kathy) Burshtan & Tracy Gates; his grandchildren Morgan, Sydney, Lindsey and David Burshtan Jr. and Bobby & Bailey Gates; and his brother Al (Ann) Burshtan, all of whom he loved dearly and they loved him too.
Harold was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, teacher, friend, and scholar. His formative childhood years were spent in Preston, Iowa. Sam and Esther fostered a caring home but also stressed the need for hard work and being a success in the classroom. He worked at the family business which was his dad's clothing and tailoring store in addition to a variety of other jobs in rural Iowa. Although he enjoyed the Boy Scouts, he discovered that he had a real passion in sports. Harold was a star athlete at Preston High School and still holds a state record in the Iowa High School Basketball Tournament.
After graduating from high school (1947), Harold enlisted in the Army and was proud to be a Veteran. Serving from 1948-49, he rose to the rank of Sergeant. Primarily based at Fort Sill (Lawton, OK), his basketball skills shone through here as well; he was a star forward on the Ft. Sill Basketball Team, traveling throughout the country where his competitive tenacity and team-first attitude was well-known. Additionally, he excelled as a forward observer and was a stand-out in small arms school, skills he honed at Aberdeen Proving Ground (Aberdeen, MD).
His illustrious career in education started humbly as he hitch-hiked with one suitcase by himself to begin college at the University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls, IA). Putting himself through school, he worked the night shift at the Rath Packing company cleaning vats daily whereby he had to quickly change clothes to make it to class in the morning. Harold's work ethic was legendary; his family and friends believe he was the hardest working human being on the face of the earth. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1952 and immediately set forth to earn his Masters Degree at Northern Colorado (Greeley, CO) which he accomplished in 1954. He went on to work on his doctorate degree at UCLA (Los Angeles, CA) in 1957.
Despite working on his Masters and Doctorate degrees, Harold's career took an unusual turn from 1952-54 as he became one of only a few people in the United States working as a high school principal having just graduated from college. He was a principal, teacher, and coach at Southeast Warren High School and loved it from "Day 1". He moved on to Colfax High School (1954-58) and then to Postville High School (1959-62) where he met the love of his life, Kathleen. Kathleen and Harold married shortly thereafter and had two children, David and Tracy. He continued to ascend to more difficult and challenging roles at Charles City High School (Charles City, IA) and Tremper High School (Kenosha, WI) through 1966. His skillset of being a wise decision maker and building a great faculty team were trademarks of all of his administrations.
From 1966-68 Harold embraced a new role as Vice President of Parsons College (Fairfield, IA). He was responsible for all student affairs as well as overseeing the athletic department where his football team was invited, and attended a bowl invite for the first time in school history. Harold was highly sought after and agreed to be the principal of West Waterloo High School (Waterloo, IA) from 1968-72, at the time the biggest high school in the state of Iowa.
In 1972, Harold began what would turn out to be a 30-year career in Wheaton, IL. He opened Wheaton-Warrenville High School in 1972 and served as principal until it was repurposed as a junior high in 1983. At that time, he became principal of Wheaton North High School, which he did until he retired in 1992. Harold's enthusiasm for the students was evident to all as he typically woke up at 4 am and headed to work so he could be done with as many daily tasks as possible to enable him to greet the students as they entered the school. On most days he went home for dinner with his family, only to return and be there for any athletic, music, drama, or educational functions daily. In bed by 10 pm and repeat. He loved every minute of it! Harold's pep assemblies and enthusiasm for sports at Wheaton North are legendary. He once rode into the gym on a motorcycle to fire up the kids. He also stood on top of the school and asked the teachers to get on their desks to participate in chants to beat the rival cross-town competitor. Harold strongly believed that all students should participate in some type of extracurricular activity and supported them all from football to the debate team; furthermore he was adamant that participating in these were part of the "secret sauce" of keeping students attitude upbeat and positive.
In 1983 Harold received the "Those Who Excel" Award for the outstanding school administrator in the State of Illinois. The award ceremony was attended by many dignitaries, friends and family at the Congress Hotel in Chicago. During his 30-year tenure at the Wheaton High Schools, his student ACT test scores consistently ranked in the Top-5% in Illinois.
Retirement for Harold was atypical compared to most. He taught part-time at the National College of Education, as well as Roosevelt and Columbia Universities. He also took interim high school principal jobs (1992-94) at Freeport High School (Freeport, IL) and the prestigious Illinois Math and Science Academy. After giving so much of himself to over the past 40 years, Harold finally took stock in himself and developed a daily workout regimen at SportsMed and Wheaton Sports Center to get in great shape and also to socialize with the hundreds of friends and family in the community in Wheaton that he became so close to over the years.
Harold was the best father and grandfather and regularly attended his kids and grandkids activities. He was a fixture at football, baseball, soccer, swimming, softball, track, tennis, badminton, and basketball courts throughout DuPage County watching and supporting his family. At this point in Harold's life he also decided to become a World Traveler. With either his wife Kathleen, best friend Pat, or his kids, he travelled the globe. Starting with a relatively tame Whitewater Rafting trip down the Colorado River, his travels soon became more adventurous. Over the course of only a few years he went on the following adventures, Israel, Nile River in Egypt, Kenyan Safari, India, China, Japan, Europe, Russia, Amazon Cruise from Columbia to Brazil, Belize and many others. He made every day count!
Helping found the Warrenville Kiwanis Club was another achievement as Harold was an active member and participated in a variety of fundraising events. His background in finance helped his efforts here as he was an active investor in the stock market and read a variety of publications which he very much enjoyed.
Finally, anybody that knew Harold understood that he was a huge Chicago Cubs and Bears Fan. Harold had season tickets to the Bears from 1975 through 2015. He rarely missed a home game and was as excited about going to the games after 40 years as he was the first time. Additionally, there were many memorable "away" road trips to the divisional rivals as well as those to Baton Rouge, Dallas, Miami, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Tampa, San Francisco, and Houston. He also enjoyed seeing the Bears versus Colts Superbowl (Miami, FL) in 2007.
Harold packed as much love, work, fun and adventure into his 90-year life as humanly possible. But most importantly, he positively affected thousands of students and faculty over his 40-plus year career. This we know, more than anything, put the biggest smile on his face every day of his life. He was the best husband, father, grandfather, and brother that anybody could ever ask for. We look forward to seeing you in heaven Harold.
A memorial service will be announced at a later date. The family requests that memorial gifts be made in Harold's name in lieu of flowers to support Parkinson's research to the following: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, c/o Harold Burshtan-Parkinson's Research Fund, 420 E. Superior, 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611. Call 847-971-4641 for online donation instructions or to give by credit card on the phone.