PASSAGES
by George Simpson
Neal R. Burger
Sound Editor
1931-2005
Neal Robinson Burger died unexpectedly at his home in San Pedro, California on July 28, 2005 at the age of 73. He had a long career as a writer and sound editor and was a member of both the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Writers Guild of America, West.
Born Sept 4, 1931, in Brooklyn, Burger moved to the West Coast at age 19, served in the Air Force during the Korean War and then began his industry career in the mail room at Republic Studios in the mid-1950s. He became a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild in 1960 and started a career editing sound at Universal Studios and Soundelux.
Burger worked on a long list of feature films, including Spartacus, Flower Drum Song, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Sting, Born on the Fourth of July, L.A. Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. His last sound work was a lengthy stint in the 1990s with Universal's feature conversion unit, supervised by Harry Tatelman.
In the early 1970s, he teamed up with George Simpson to cowrite The Disappearance of Flight 412, a television movie for NBC which starred Glenn Ford and David Soul. They followed with five co-authored novels, the first of which, Ghostboat, was an international bestseller and is currently being produced as a two-part, three-hour movie by Granada Television. The other novels were Thin Air, Fair Warning, Severed Ties and Blackbone, the last published in 1985.
Burger is survived by his daughter, Karen Charman of Shandaken, New York; his son, Michael Burger of Santa Monica; grandson Jake Burger, also of Santa Monica; stepdaughter Shayna Eskew of San Rafael, California; and stepgrandson Alex Petterson of Canada. George Simpson
REAL LIFE
New Additions
Renee and David Raymond (assistant editor) welcomed into the world Dillon Grace Raymond, born Septem-ber 26, 2005. She was 7 lbs., 8 oz. Craig Herring (editor) and his wife Michele announced the birth of their baby boy, Conrad Pembroke Herring, on September 23, 2005. He was 8 lbs., 10 oz.
On the Mend
Retired film editor Robert A. Daniels and his wife Arlene moved to Del Webb's Anthem planned community in Hend-erson, Nevada a couple of years ago.
On September 8, 2005, he had his fourth back surgery and was home recuperating on October 3, when he took a bad fall and fractured his hip. Two days later, Daniels had surgery on his hip and is currently recovering in the Health South Rehabilitation Hospital of Henderson, 10301 Jeffreys Street, Henderson, Nevada 89052.
In Memoriam
Betty Ann Schaffer
Librarian
(March 19, 1922 - September 7, 2005)
50 years as a member
Marcellette Wade
TV Film Coordinator
(September 29, 1915 - July 7, 2005)
47 years as a member