By:Andrew Coen
Burstein fought the degenerative illness, which attacks the central nervous system, for nearly 20 years, during which she worked tirelessly to educate people about the disease and to try to find a cure. "She was an immense inspiration for people who were able-bodied and disabled," said Patricia Burstein, her twin sister. "Her face was alive with goodness and compassion."
The former Five Towner regularly visited the Metropolitan Montessori School in Manhattan to discuss her condition and teach students not to be afraid of people with the condition or other diseases. Burstein was the commencement speaker in 2003 at the school, whose students range in age from 3 to 13. In her most recent visit to the school, last October, she spoke about the importance of stem-cell research and how it someday could help cure MS and other diseases.
"She is exactly the kind of teacher I would want to have as a role model for the kids," said Mary Gaines, Montessori's head of school. "The kids really took her in as one of their own."
"By her mere presence, she vanished the fear of the children," Burstein's twin sister said.
The students were so touched by Burstein's visits that the school chorus is scheduled to sing at her memorial Jan. 9 at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan.
Burstein also regularly spoke about her illness to students at the Louis T. Brandeis School in Manhattan and the Fordham University Graduate School of Education.
Burstein grew up in Lawrence, graduating from Woodmere Academy Middle School and, in 1962, Lawrence High School, before she moved to western Pennsylvania, where she earned degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She also earned a master's degree in educational psychology at Columbia. Before beginning her television career, Burstein spent a year teaching disadvantaged children in Washington, D.C.
She began her television career as a reporter, with jobs at WABC-TV and CNN, but moved on to investigative journalism, covering consumer affairs. She held jobs at TV stations in Orlando, Fla., San Diego, Atlanta and Dallas. As her illness progressed, she continued to work in a wheelchair. "She chased the crooks and cronies from her wheelchair," said her sister.
Burstein was forced to give up her TV career in the late 1990s because of the illness, but she continued to work as a freelance writer and author, using a computer that she operated with a mouth stick. With her sister's help, she wrote a book titled "Legwork," published in 1994, which was a highly personal account of her battle with MS. It also highlighted her successful suit against Irving Dardik, a New York doctor whose claim that he could cure her resulted in the revocation of his medical license in 1995 by New York state authorities.
Burstein lived in Lawrence until 2001, when her mother, Beatrice, a Nassau County and State Supreme Court judge, died.
Burstein's physician, Dr. Mordechai Zucker of Far Rockaway, made five house calls a day to her when she was in the Five Towns, and continued to see her when she moved to an apartment on the Upper East Side after her mother's death. His last visit came on Christmas Day, just three days before Burstein's death. "She was a fighter and a real warrior," said Zucker.
Burstein also touched her nurse of four years, Gloria Alleyne, who often had long conversations with her. Alleyne stayed with her on Christmas night and the entire following day, even though she was not scheduled to work. "Ellen was not just my patient, she was my friend," Alleyne said. "She is so deep in my heart."
Besides Patricia, Burstein is survived by two other sisters, Jessica and Karen, both of Manhattan; and two brothers, John, of Camden, Maine, and Judd, of Westport, Conn. Her father, Herbert, an attorney, died in 1983.
A private funeral and burial took place at Beth Moses Cemetery in Pinelawn. Sunday's public memorial service is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
