The Rev. Peter D. Burke, 64, pastor of St. Cyril of Alexandria Roman Catholic Church in East Lansdowne, died Tuesday of cancer at the rectory.

When the church bells tolled Tuesday to announce his death, parish secretary Mary Lou Love said, "people flocked to the rectory" to share their grief.

In his nine years as pastor, Father Burke "had an open-door policy," Love said. "He wanted the rectory to be a community hub."

At Christmas he hosted a tree-lighting party with Santa riding on an East Lansdowne fire engine. "The party was for everyone," Love said, "not just parishioners."

"Up until the end," she said, "he worried about the parish and wondered who would take over the summer program."

Father Burke initiated a summer program and an after-school program for children of working parents when he became concerned about their care.

He was especially close to the children in the parish, Love said, and he kept young people involved in the church liturgies after they graduated from the parish school. "He created a spirit where everyone was valued," she said.

During his years as pastor, the church buildings were cleaned, painted and repaired, and a flower and herb garden was planted by volunteers under his supervision. He joked that "these hands were made for chalices, not calluses."

Love said Father Burke "would meet new parishioners and ask them what they did for a living, and if they had skills he could use, he got their number."

Father Burke was raised in Overbrook and graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes School. After graduating from St. Thomas More High School in Philadelphia, he entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.

He was ordained in 1965, and for the next eight years he served as a parochial vicar, assisting pastors at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Media; St. Martin of Tours Church in New Hope; and St. Bernard Church in Philadelphia.

From 1972 until 1979 he taught religion at Bishop McDevitt High School in Wyncote and was moderator of the school's marching band, traveling with it to football games and holiday parades.

In the 1980s, Father Burke was vice rector and then director of pastoral and apostolic formation at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.

Before being appointed pastor of St. Cyril's in 1993, he was pastor at St. Ambrose Church in Philadelphia for four years.

He is survived by his mother, Ellen McCrossan Burke; brothers Edward, Thomas, and Monsignor Michael Burke; a sister, Sister Mary Burke; and nieces and nephews.

A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. today at St. Cyril, 153 Penn Blvd., East Lansdowne. Friends may call from 9 a.m. Burial will be in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon.