Molly Burke Scully

April 16, 1938 - February 11, 2021

Molly Burke Scully passed away on February 11, 2021 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was born in Oregon, grew up in Coos Bay and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon with a degree in English. She was a lifelong Duck and was thrilled that her son Brian went to school in Eugene as well.

In the early 1960’s, after teaching three years of high school English in Oregon, she moved to San Francisco where she began her career in editing at McGraw Hill. She lived in an apartment on Green Street with good friends from college and eventually met John Scully. After they married in 1966, the couple moved to New York City and Molly continued working until the birth of her two sons. After spending nine great years in Brooklyn Heights, the family returned to San Francisco.

Molly was a dedicated editor and resumed her career at Harper & Row. She joined a book club with a close circle of friends that met for many years. She continued as a print production consultant at Broom & Broom, specializing in annual reports. Precise language and grammar were important to Molly (which certainly increased the pressure when writing this obit!) She was active in her community, volunteered as a mentor to high school students and enjoyed her time at the USF Fromm Institute in her later years.

Molly loved New York and often took trips with friends and family to visit museums, restaurants and Broadway. She and her sister Kay had a particularly memorable trip in 2002 when they saw 8 plays in 8 days.

Molly is survived by her husband John, her sons Matt (Liecel), and Brian (Elizabeth), her sister Kay Burke and younger brother Bob Burke (Kathy). She has seven grandchildren, Theo, Jonathan and Emily in Alameda and Colin, Ava, Jack and Maddie in San Francisco, as well as many nieces and nephews.

The family is grateful to the staff of Sonoma Grove who provided loving care for Molly over the past six years. Molly spent many years in a study conducted by UCSF Neurology. If you would like to support their work, donations can be made in her name to the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in San Francisco.

Due to current restrictions, the funeral services were private. A remembrance gathering will be held later this year.