Vincent Burke was born in St. Jacques, N.L. He was educated in St. John's at St. Bonaventure's College and later at Columbia University in New York.

Burke’s rise in the Catholic education system was meteoric. He became principal of the high school in Torbay at the age of 19. When he was just 21 years old, he was appointed superintendent of Roman Catholic Schools. Burke later became the deputy minister of Education in 1920.

In October of 1924, it was Burke who travelled to Dalhousie University to attend a meeting of the Carnegie Corporation of America’s Advisory Committee. Following that meeting, the Carnegie Corporation donated $15,000 annually, for five years, to establish a junior college in St. John’s. Without this initial contribution, Memorial University College would have never been established. And on numerous occasions, Burke made the ferry trip to New York, via Halifax, to procure further funding from the Carnegie Corporation.

Though each of the original trustees contributed greatly to the foundation and success of Memorial University College, Burke is considered by many to be the father of Memorial University. Though Burke was far younger than most of his fellow trustees, William Blackall once wrote to John Lewis Paton, “Burke is our dux.” The Latin word dux means “leader.”

Dr. A.C. Hunter once commented, "Memorial University College is a monument to the qualities of mind and character possessed by Vincent Patrick Burke, to his enthusiasm, patience, perseverance and, above all, vision and imagination. Most people were still only beginning to accept the notion of a junior college when he was already thinking in terms of a university."

A bronze bust of Vincent Burke is on display in the lobby of the Arts and Administration Building, St. John's campus. Burke House, in Paton College, is named in his honour.