Thomas Wesley Burkman

Thomas Wesley Burkman

Passed on to Glory on Wednesday October 28, 2026 at age 82. His life-long career was studying and teaching Japanese history, focusing on interwar diplomacy and the US occupation. He grew up in South Jersey, went to Asbury College and Seminary, taught English at Kwansei Gakuin University, and earned his PhD in Asian Studies at the University of Michigan. He was the founding director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Old Dominion University and retired from the University of Buffalo where he was Associate Professor of History and Director of Asian Studies. He taught adult Sunday School and sang in the choir at Trinity Church, Grand Island, and loved camping, yardwork, the Adirondack Mountain Club, canals, trains, and playing the accordion. He is preceded in death by his parents Emmanuel and Mary, his brother Ted, and his wife Lani. He is survived by his loving wife Margery, children Brad (Kathleen), Mary (Michael), Heather (Zack), and Wesley (Tiffany), and grandchildren Hailey, Austin, Alex, Asher, Lina, Juni, Nora, and Scarlett, and Margery’s children, Kelly (Bill), Karla (Scott), Kirsten, and grandchildren Joshua (Brittany), Julie, Grace, Katie, Justin, McKenna and great grandchildren Leona, Phoebe, and Daisy.