ROTARY CLUB OF SAN MARCOS
The Rotary Club of San Marcos presented a $20,000 check to the Mc-Coy College of Business at Texas State University that helped endow the “Dick Burdick - Rotary International Scholarship” to benefit students committed to studying international business. The presentation of the check, which included funds raised during the Rotary Mardis Gras Casino Night, was made on March 25 at the Rotary Club meeting.
Richard L. Burdick, 1929-2018, was a longtime San Marcos resident who founded Thermon Manufacturing Company, an international industrial heating business, in 1954. He was a leader in developing the heat tracing industry, with affiliates worldwide.
In 1971 Burdick joined the Rotary Club of San Marcos and maintained perfect attendance until his death in 2018. He served as 1989-90 District Governor of Rotary District 5840, in South Cen- tral Texas, which includes fifty-five clubs from Del Rio to San Saba, and from Junction towards Corpus Christi.
Dick Burdick
Burdick was also an active volunteer in the Boy Scouts of America, and served as the local District Chair, the President of the Austin-based Capitol Area Council and on the Boy Scout’s National Board of Directors. He attended many International Jamborees and received numerous awards and recognition from the Boy Scouts for his years of service.
One of Burdick’s better- known passions was antique automobiles. He founded the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History in Rosanky, Texas in 1982. His love for antique automobiles and racing included 25 years of participation in the Great American Race, an annual transcontinental antique car rally. He consistently placed among the top finishers driving cars such as a 1924 Bentley Racer and a 1916 Hudson Speedster.
In July 1995 he brought the Great American Race to San Marcos on its way from Ottawa, Canada to Mexico City. The 100+ racers voted San Marcos the best overnight stop of the entire race that year. In 2009 Burdick opened Dick’s Classic Garage in San Marcos, which closed after his death.
Rotary is nonprofit, nonpolitical, and nonreligious. The Rotary Club of San Marcos is 105 years old.
