David M. Burns ’53

Dave, who was leader, singer, and trombonist with the Hot Mustard Jazz Band — a big hit at two of our reunions — died of an intracranial hemorrhage May 13, 2013.

Dave lived in D.C. and would meet for lunch with Ned Conquest, Doug Denby, Dick Hobson, and Russ Pickering at Washington’s Cosmos Club. He went to D.C. at age 15 from his Pineville, Ky., home to be a Capitol page. He attended Page School and Western High School.

At Princeton, he specialized in English, sang in the choir, and performed with the Triangle Club. He wrote for The Daily Princetonian and the Tiger and belonged to Cloister Inn.

He studied on a Fulbright in France and married Sandra Dunlop in 1955, the year he joined the U.S. Information Agency, which posted him around the world. Later he was administrator for the first-ever Climate Change Study Program sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Ever the writer, he authored two books and wrote articles and book reviews for national publications.

He leaves behind Sandra; sons David and Patrick; and five grandchildren. Now he has joined that rousing swing session in the sky, and those of us fortunate to own several of his recordings have something tangible to remember him by.