Burns, who retired 20 years ago from private practice as a psychiatrist in Springfield, Mass., died Nov. 23, 2009, at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital. He was 89. After retirement he lived first in Redding, Conn., and recently in Branford, Conn.
Born in New York City, he prepped at Evans and Riverdale Country schools. At Princeton he majored in English and German, graduating with honors, and joined Terrace Club. He graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1948 and then interned at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., until 1953.
After two years as a psychiatrist at Sampson Air Force Base in Seneca Lake, N.Y., he moved to Springfield and opened his own practice. In Springfield he was director of the district court clinic, on the staff of Hamden District Mental Health Clinic, and a consultant to the Peace Corps and Smith College.
He married Shirley Huber in the late 1940s. They had three children, James (“Jay”) Burns Amberson IV, Katherine Amberson Hajjar, and Kenneth Jeffers Amberson. Burns was divorced after 10 years, and in 1962 he married Nickie Shapras, with whom he had a daughter, Linda P. Shapras. They later divorced. All four children survive, along with his sister and seven grandchildren.