CDN FIGURE SKATING COACH, CHOREOGRAPHER ELLEN BURKA DIES, 95
Sep 13, 2016
By Bob Komsic
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One of the world’s most respected figure skating coaches and choreographers, Ellen Burka, has died.
Skate Canada did not know or disclose the cause, announcing only that she passed Monday night.
A skating champ in the Netherlands, Burka immigrated to Canada in 1950 after surviving the Holocaust.
She’d go on to join the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club and began her successful career.
An Olympic and world coach, Burka taught many accomplished skaters, including her daughter Petra, the 1964 Olympic bronze medalist and ’65 world champ
as well as Toller Cranston, six-time Canadian champ and 1976 Olympic bronze medalist.
Burka was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1978, became a member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and then in 2013 was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.