Résumé

Salesman/Sales Manager/Vice-President, Dickenson & Gillespie Corporation, Real Estate, Los Angeles, CA, 1916-1932. Burns worked on the development of Dickenson and Gillespie's Palisades del Rey (later known as Playa del Rey) development. Partner, Marlow-Burns Development Company, Los Angeles, CA, 1937-1944. This firm developed numerous sub-divisions in the Westchester, Windsor Hills, Toluca Wood, and West Los Angeles neighborhoods. (See Online Archive of Calfiornia (OAC), "Fritz Burns Biography," accessed 04/05/2016.)

Parter, (with Henry J. Kaiser) Kaiser Community Homes, Los Angeles, CA, 1945. Kaiser Community Homes developed the Panorama City neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.

Chief Executive Officer, Fritz B. Burns and Associates, Los Angeles, CA, 1960-1979. Burns developed many shopping centers and hotels in Southern CA and elsewhere.

Professional Activities

Burns became one of the most visible and professionally-active builders in Southern CA, and made a huge impact on the environment and middle-class ethos of Southern CA, both before and after World War II. The Online Archive of California (OAC) stated of Burns: "With partner F. W. Marlow, he was involved in the development of Westchester, Windsor Hills, Panorama City, parts of North Hollywood and other areas in Los Angeles. Such projects made him a prominent developer in Los Angeles and a leader in the development of mass-produced housing, resulting in community development and the notion of middle class ownership of homes as a way of life. He was, consequently, a leading civic figure in the city." (See OAC, "Fritz Burns Papers, 1939-1973," accessed 04/05/2016.)

President, Home Builders Association of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 1942; President, National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), 1945.

Burns collaborated with businessman Henry J. Kaiser (1882-1967) and hotelier Conrad Hilton (1887-1979) on hotel developments in Hawaii.

Professional Awards

Recipient, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, "Man of Achievement Award," Los Angeles, CA, 1955.

Archives

The Fritz Burns Papers, 1939-1973 were donated to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Burns donated to various Roman Catholic institutions in Southern California, including Loyola Marymount University and Aquinas College.

Relocation

Born in Minneapolis, MN, Burns moved to Los Angeles, CA, by the 1920s.

He died in Los Angeles County, CA, at the age of 79.

Spouse

Fritz Burns married Lucille Robinson in 1924, but divorced her in 1927.

He remarried Gladys Carson Scheller (1897-1985) in 1940.

Children

Fritz and Lucille Robinson had one son, Fritz Patrick Burns (1925-1980).