Barbara Sykes dies at 55 after battle with cancer
Barbara Sykes, who served the Burbank community through her work with a variety of local charities, died Thursday. She was 55.
Some community leaders and friends said they were stunned by the news.
“Nobody — nobody — expected her to pass away right now,” said Janet Diel, a longtime friend of Sykes and president of the Burbank Coordinating Council, one of the organizations with which she had been heavily involved.
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The mother of three and grandmother of two, the Toluca Lake native had been battling cancer for the past year, said her husband, former Burbank Mayor Dave Golonski.
“To look at her, you never would have guessed,” he said, adding that neither pain nor the illness kept her from spending time with her son John or her grandchildren.
Sykes and Golonski have long hosted events in their Magnolia Park home to raise money for local causes and others in need, such as orphans in Mexico. City Councilman Will Rogers, a friend, said whenever he’d visit, they’d be in the process of finishing up one fundraiser and planning the next, with gifts and donations piled up in one room and children playing in another.
A founding board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and the Greater East Valley, Sykes was also a longtime volunteer with the Family Service Agency of Burbank and served as one of the key organizers of the Burbank Coordinating Council’s holiday basket program.
“She was absolutely passionate about any charitable effort that had to do with kids,” Rogers said, adding that she also raised funds for the Condor Squadron, founded by her father, which flies military trainer planes in formation over parades, veterans events and memorial ceremonies throughout the region. Rogers said they will likely soon do a “missing man” flyover in her honor.
Sykes loved to help others and was instrumental in helping provide gifts to needy families each holiday season, Diel said, adding that Sykes “was gangbusters all the way” and didn’t let her illness slow her down during the most recent basket program drive.
She seemed to have boundless energy, and “was so damn tough,” Rogers said, that even those who knew she was ill had a sense that if anyone could — or deserved to — beat it, she could.
Shanna Warren, chief executive of the Boys & Girls Club, said Sykes had been a “fearless champion” of the club, supporting many efforts over the last 21 years, such as the opening of a satellite school site at Roosevelt Elementary in 2003. She said the entire club will mourn her loss.
“There have been years when I don’t know what the club or I would have done without her,” Warren said. “She has helped to save thousands of children’s lives over the years.”
Warren added that Sykes “was and is an angel to us.”
Diel said she was “one of the most amazing forces” in the community, and her friendship, energy and drive will be missed.
“All I can say is that the community has a hole in it now,” she said Thursday, fighting back tears. Later, she added: “I’m just sorry for Burbank.”
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Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com
Twitter: @chadgarland
