Biography
Burns was born January 12, 1876, in Knoxville, Iowa, the son of William E. Burns of Erie, Pennsylvania, and Dulcina Elizabeth French of Indiana. His brothers were Fred F., Jed W. and William Burns. He graduated from high school in Hutchinson, Kansas, and then became a lawyer and was business manager of The Hutchinson News; He also engaged in coal mining and the "telephone business."
Burns was married to Sarah Bertram of Kentucky on October 11, 1898; they had four sons, William B., Robert J., Harry F. and John A.
He and a brother began a flour mill that grew into the Consolidated Flour Mills of Kansas, His company was the first in the nation to introduce the eight-hour day for mill employees. In 1916, he retired and moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the Los Angeles Country Club. A Presbyterian and a Republican, he was a notable chess player. In 1934 he was living at 673 Hobart Boulevard. In that year, an interviewer wrote about him:
So interested and energetic is Robert L. Burns in the discharge of his councilmanic duties that his colleagues call him, "the Watch Dog of the City Treasury." A forceful personality, but admittedly not a "joiner," Mr. Burns belongs to no clubs of any sort, professing more interest in his jobs than in handshaking. Until He became a member of the City Council, golf was his hobby. Now, with very little spare time, reading and browsing at home in his large library has superseded the golf."
Burns died March 17, 1955, in his home at 672 South Serrano Avenue, between Wilshire Boulevard and Seventh Street. He was buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)