Andrew Blaine Burkhardt, 78

Cranston, R.I.

Andrew Blaine Burkhardt, “Andy”, whose news judgment and deft editing helped shape reports in The Providence Journal for decades, died May 3 after a 5-year struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.

In his years at the Journal and its one-time sister newspaper, the now-defunct Evening Bulletin, Mr. Burkhardt held several editing positions. He retired as the Journal’s city editor in 2001.

Mr. Burkhardt, lived in a house a short walk from the Edgewood Yacht Club. A passionate sailor, usually on board his sloop Sojourn, he was a board member and then served as the club’s commodore in 2003. He sailed throughout New England waters as well as from Bermuda to Newport.

In 1987, when the America’s Cup race was held for the first time away from Newport, Mr. Burkhardt led a team of reporters and photographers dispatched to Australia to report on the contest.

He was born in Louisville, KY but his family had deep roots across the Ohio River, where his family founded the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens in 1875, making it the second oldest zoo in the country. He grew up in Marshfield, MA, after his father was named to manage Eastern Airline Ops at Logan Airport. His mother, Cornelia Metcalfe Burkhardt was a homemaker.

After graduating from Amherst College, where he played football and was president of his fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, he served in the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Reserve.

He and his first wife, Lynn lived in Barrington, where he was a member of the Barrington Yacht Club. He is survived by their three daughters, Laura, Elizabeth (Mimi), Katherine, and two children, Andrew and Mary (Molly), from his marriage to Mary (Mimi) who died in 2004.

He also leaves five grandchildren, as well as his brothers Barry and Bruce, his sister, Elizabeth, and ten nieces and nephews, as well as his sister-in-law, Stephanie.