Self-Taught Chef from Jenkintown Remembered for His Passion: ‘He Passed Just as He Lived, with Intention’

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chef Jim Burke
Image via Monica Herndon, Philadelphia Inquirer.
Jim Burke.

Chef Jim Burke, a Jenkintown native and the owner of James, a popular South Philadelphia restaurant, has died at 49 after a two-year battle with a rare lung cancer, writes Michael Klein for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Burke co-owned James with his wife, Kristina, who worked alongside him as a pastry chef.

“He passed just as he lived, with intention,” she said.

Burke was diagnosed with EGFR lung cancer in August 2020. By that time, the cancer had reached stage IV and already spread to his bones and brain.

But the celebrated chef faced cancer with “his customary grace and humility,” said Kristina, a breast cancer survivor.

Burke originally got an economics degree from Franklin and Marshall College, but he soon realized cooking was his true passion. Although he had no formal training, he made up for it with his dedication and patience.

“He worked in a lot of restaurants and read voraciously about cooking,” Kristina said.

Read more about Jim Burke in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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