Death
On February 22, Exsd2006, at the age of 44, Burger died of a massive heart attack while performing aboard the MS Zuiderdam, a cruise ship chartered for a Gaither Gospel Cruise. According to eyewitnesses, Burger was accompanying Bill & Gloria Gaither and Guy Penrod on the song "Hear My Song, Lord" (erroneously reported as "We Shall Behold Him" at first) when fans in the audience noticed Burger had ceased moving, his hands clenched into fists over the keyboard. Several fellow artists carried him backstage, where the cruise ship's emergency response team futilely performed CPR for about 45 minutes.
Burger was survived by his wife LuAnn, two sons, AJ and Austin; a daughter, Lori; his mother and father, Richard and Jean Burger; two brothers, Randy and Clinton Burger.
A young blind pianist, Gordon Mote, from Gadsden, Alabama, has succeeded Burger as the Gaither Homecoming pianist.
Read more about this topic: Anthony Burger
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Death, the most dreaded of all evils, is therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist death is not present, and when death is present we no longer exist.”
—Epicurus (c. 341–271 B.C.)
“‘Tis no great valor to perish sword in hand, and bravado on lip; cased all in panoply complete. For even the alligator dies in his mail, and the swordfish never surrenders. To expire, mild-eyed, in one’s bed, transcends the death of Epaminondas.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth—
Assorted characters of death and blight”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)