{"id":18509,"date":"2022-06-22T14:15:04","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T19:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=18509"},"modified":"2023-06-30T12:43:43","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T17:43:43","slug":"bruce-burton-former-mitchell-dean-and-professor-dies-at-age-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2022\/06\/22\/bruce-burton-former-mitchell-dean-and-professor-dies-at-age-83\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Burton, former Mitchell dean and professor, dies at age 83"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Dean Bruce Burton (Mitchell Hamline archives)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bruce Burton, a former William Mitchell dean who led the school at a transformative time in its history, died on June 11, 2022, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he lived. He was 83.<\/p>\n

Burton served as dean from 1975 to 1980 and oversaw the school\u2019s move to what is now the Mitchell Hamline campus. During his deanship, he also led a $4 million fundraising campaign and made several changes that professionalized both the board that governed the school and the faculty and staff who worked there.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad loved the school with his heart and soul,\u201d wrote Burton\u2019s son Jeff, in an email this week.<\/p>\n

The Fairmont, Minnesota, native graduated from Mankato State University in 1961, then taught high school English in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, and Long Beach, California, before returning to attend law school at the University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

After graduating in 1968, Burton joined what is now the Dorsey & Whitney law firm. He also taught as an adjunct at both the University of Minnesota and William Mitchell before joining Mitchell\u2019s faculty full time in 1973.<\/p>\n

\"\"

William Mitchell College of Law, as located at 2100 Summit Ave. in St. Paul (Minnesota Historical Society photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

At the time, Mitchell was bursting at the seams in its location across from the College (now University) of St. Thomas. With a growing enrollment, Mitchell had to rent classroom space from the college and spent several years seeking a solution.<\/p>\n

One option emerged at 875 Summit Avenue, a property that included a shuttered Catholic high school, Our Lady of Peace, and a convent. As Mitchell moved to buy it, a pastor in the Rondo neighborhood raised allegations of racism that his organization\u2019s bid wasn\u2019t accepted to buy the building for an interracial learning center for children.<\/p>\n

Mitchell withdrew its initial offer on July 1, 1975, about a month before then-dean Doug Heidenreich was to resign. The school\u2019s board had known about Heidenreich\u2019s plans for a year but hadn\u2019t searched for a new dean, citing a recommendation to not do so \u201cuntil the board made some fundamental decisions about the kind and size of law school it wanted,\u201d according to Heidenreich\u2019s history of William Mitchell, \u201cWith Satisfaction and Honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, the purchase fell apart just as the school was about to be without a leader. Burton, an expert in real estate law, eventually agreed to be named acting dean. As a testament to the stress of the time, Heidenreich wrote that he was \u201coff the hook\u201d when Burton took over.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the school resubmitted a bid that was accepted. The religious order that sold the building had cited concerns with the competing organization\u2019s ability to raise the needed funds.<\/p>\n

After completing the purchase, Burton launched and oversaw a $4 million campaign to raise the funds for buying and renovating Mitchell\u2019s new home. \u201cI remember running around the hallways and theater area of the old Our Lady of Peace school,\u201d recalled Jeff Burton, who also was tasked with his sister Vicki with watering the lawn. \u201cI was only seven or eight at a time, so of course, it was a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

As renovations continued, Burton agreed to be named permanent dean – even though he had expressed no desire for the post – in May 1976. In August, a few weeks before classes were to begin, movers and volunteers shuttled thousands of books and other furniture and material to the new campus.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI remember how hot it was [that day],\u201d said Dave Savard, whose family lived on the same block as the Burtons, resulting in Burton hiring the young Savard and his brother to help with the move. Savard later was hired to work security, where he\u2019s remained since. \u201cSome of the nuns were still living in the convent as we were moving in,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI remember helping them move some of their belongings out.\u201d<\/p>\n

A formal dedication ceremony of the building was held in October 1977 and featured speeches from United States Chief Justice Warren Burger, an alumnus of St. Paul College of Law, a Mitchell predecessor school.<\/p>\n

Burton\u2019s time as dean also included removing a requirement that the board of trustees only include lawyers and judges as members.\u00a0 More people from the business community came in, which Heidenreich notes brought more professionalism from their corporate structures.<\/p>\n

Burton also hired more support staff and renovated the leadership structure. More faculty were hired, and meeting and voting structures were enacted. A formal tenure code and student code were established, along with revisions to curriculum and graduation requirements.<\/p>\n

Through its history, William Mitchell had always been a part-time night law school. In 1978, the first daytime course offerings began, which expanded the enrollment options for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cBruce continued the upward trajectory of the law school,\u201d said Professor Mike Steenson. \u201cHe was instrumental in the law school\u2019s expansion and in hiring some of our most productive faculty members.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the changes came some headaches. Parking soon became an issue around campus. At one point, Mitchell\u2019s student newspaper, the Opinion, ran a story about plans for a new parking ramp that would include a bar and disco in the basement. The story was satire but apparently not obviously enough to prevent the ire of the neighborhood. Burton was forced to publicly declare no such plans existed.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Bruce Burton, enjoying retirement in recent years (photo courtesy Jeff Burton)<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1980, noting that his main task of establishing and paying for the law school\u2019s new location was complete, Burton stepped down both as dean and faculty member. He later taught for 12 years at South Texas College of Law in Houston and, in retirement, served as a visiting professor at several law schools and was published in several journals. He also co-wrote a mystery novel called \u201cSleuth Slayer\u201d with his son, Jeff, who is an author.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is remembered today as an enthusiastic, energetic, and effective dean who brought William Mitchell College of Law into the modern era,\u201d wrote Heidenreich, in his book.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the right person at the right time in the history of Mitchell,\u201d added Professor Roger Haydock, who helped create the law school\u2019s renowned clinics in the early 1970s. \u201cHe was a very serious guy who was a well-liked and well-respected attorney and professor, and he was fiercely loyal to the school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burton is survived by his wife, Marlyse, six children, eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bruce Burton, a former William Mitchell dean who led the school at a transformative time in its history, died on June 11, 2022, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he lived. He was 83. Burton served as dean from 1975 to 1980 and oversaw the school\u2019s move to what is now the Mitchell Hamline campus. During his … <\/p>\n

Bruce Burton, former Mitchell dean and professor, dies at age 83<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5668,"featured_media":18515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,22,5],"tags":[437,441,438,439,440,422,103,288],"class_list":{"0":"post-18509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"category-history-center","9":"category-news","10":"tag-bruce-burton","11":"tag-dave-savard","12":"tag-dorsey","13":"tag-doug-heidenreich","14":"tag-history","15":"tag-mike-steenson","16":"tag-obituary","17":"tag-roger-haydock","18":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}