In 1955, Ellen Burnstein awoke with a headache, fever and tingling sensations in her legs. The Vanderbilt University sophomore was hospitalized and diagnosed with polio.

“No one can explain why, but the paralysis stopped progressing and within months she regained her muscles,” said her son, Ben Burnstein of Dunwoody. “She learned how to walk again and graduated on time in four years.”

Ellen Burnstein, 73, of Atlanta died Saturday from lung cancer at Hospice Atlanta. The memorial service will be noon Wednesday at The Temple in Atlanta. Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care is in charge of arrangements.

In the early 1960s, Mrs. Burnstein moved to Atlanta to take graduate courses in city planning at Georgia Tech. She was one of the few female enrollees at the time. She was vice president of Dale Henson Associates, a real estate consulting firm in Midtown, for nearly three decades.

The paralysis that threatened Mrs. Burnstein left her with a limp. However, that didn’t keep her from swimming, something she did several times a week well into her late 60s. “She was a tough cookie,” her son said.

Additional survivors include her husband, Jerry Burnstein of Atlanta; a daughter, Betsy Olinger of Charlotte; a sister, Irene Gross of Elkins Park, Pa.; her stepmother, Helene C. Muhr of Springfield, Ill.; and two grandsons.