Louis A. Burke Jr., 75, Phila. police officer

Louis A. Burke Jr., 75, a retired Philadelphia police officer who raised five children with a sense of humor and social responsibility, died of Lou Gehrig's disease Tuesday at home in Mayfair.

He met his future bride, Rose Marie Morris, when he was an 11-year-old growing up in Kensington. When he was 16, Mr. Burke dropped out of the old Northeast High School, then at Eighth Street and Lehigh Avenue, and went to work in the warehouse at Sears.

"He didn't want to go to school anymore," said son Louis III. "He eventually went back and got his GED from Ben Franklin High."

In 1952, Mr. Burke married and six months later was drafted into the Army. He was in the Signal Corps in Germany before being discharged in 1954.

He returned to work at Sears until joining the Philadelphia Police Department in 1957. He started out as a beat cop in Germantown; he was a plainclothes detective in Family Court when he retired in 1976.

Mr. Burke and his wife founded the Catholic Youth Organization in the St. Hugh of Cluny parish in the 1970s, before they moved to Mayfair.

"They ran the program to keep teens off the streets," his son said. "They organized ping-pong, deck shuffle and sports teams for kids in the neighborhood, even if they weren't Catholic."

After retiring from the force, Mr. Burke became the director of the Hu-Catholic Federal Credit Union. During this time, he earned a Realtor's license and a private-investigation license.

When the credit union closed in the 1980s, he and a partner formed an investigation business dealing mostly with insurance fraud and divorce.

Mr. Burke opened his home to everyone and was known for his sense of humor.

"My dad did a dance called 'the worm' at everybody's wedding," his son said. "He lay on his back and his stomach, kicked his feet in the air, waved his hands and made everyone laugh."

Mr. Burke also was an inventor, of sorts.

"He cut a hole in a milk carton and used it for a plastic-bag dispenser," his son said. "He'd laugh and say, 'I'll bet you've never seen one of those before.' My mom still uses the same one he made decades ago."

Mr. Burke was consumed by attending events with his 11 grandchildren.

"He was calm and quiet as kids ran through his home," his son said. "He loved it."

After surviving prostate cancer in 1997, Mr. Burke was stricken by Lou Gehrig's disease in 2005.

"We knew he was bad when he stopped laughing at reruns of Everyone Loves Raymond," his son said.

In addition to his wife and son Louis III, Mr. Burke is survived by sons Thomas, Michael and Timothy; a daughter, Colleen Cowdrick; 11 grandchildren; and a sister.

Friends may visit at 7 p.m. tomorrow and at 8:30 a.m. Monday at John F. Fluehr and Sons, 3301 Cottman Ave. A Funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. at St. Matthew Church, Cottman and Battersby Street. Burial will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Cheltenham.

Donations may be sent to ALS Association, Greater Philadelphia Chapter, 321 Norristown Rd., Suite 260, Ambler, Pa. 19002.