Robert Carter Burns ’27

Carter Burns died of pneumonia Mar. 31, 1997, at the Fernwood Nursing Home in Bethesda, Md.

At Princeton he was assistant managing editor of the Princetonian and a member of Cloister Inn. After graduation he worked in St. Louis with the Franklin American Trust Co. From 1933-41, he was secretary of the City of St. Louis Board of Public Service.

During WWII, Carter was a captain in the Marine Corps, serving as assistant naval attache at the U.S. Embassy in London, and later an intelligence officer in the Pacific, emerging as a lt. col. Upon the surrender of Japan, he served there, transferring to the regular Marine Corps. He became a colonel in 1951. Subsequently, he earned an MA at the U. of North Carolina in Latin American history, became professor of naval science and headed the Naval ROTC there. During the Korean War he commanded a Marine regiment at the 38th Parallel.

Carter retired from the Marines in 1961, moved to Washington, D.C., and was assistant dean of the College of Central Studies at George Washington U. for 10 years, during which many of his books were published, including a History of the U.S. Naval War College. He married Louise Sullivan in 1946; she died in 1996. He is survived by his daughter, Mary Carter Cunningham, and two granddaughters. To them, the class extends its sympathy.

The Class of 1927