James G. Burr

Burr, James G.
On Friday, July 18, 2014, James G. Burr, AIA, Emeritus, at Arbor Springs, West Des Moines, left us to run with the angels. There will be a gathering in his memory at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, September 15, 2014, in the Parish Hall at All Saints Episcopal Church, 6300 North Central in Phoenix (602-279-5539).

Jim was an architect who loved his calling as a passionate photographer who could find beauty in unlikely places and objects. He was a graceful tennis player and a long time Toastmaster, with the gift of making people laugh. He was a joyful and tireless traveler. In Rome, London or Sydney, or up and down the Grand Canyon, for nearly 50 years, his constant companions were his camera and his wife, Karen.

As a young man he served his country with the U. S. Army in Korea during the Armistice, and valued his memories of that time. He was always and quietly a patriot who loved the country he had served. Jim lived in and loved the Southwest, especially Phoenix, where he met and married Karen and practiced his career, and Taos, where he retired. Jim happily gave his life to the work he loved for over 40 years and left a legacy of enduring work, both in architecture and in his work in designing for the physically disabled.

In Phoenix, Jim spent his apprenticeship years with several firms before he started work at long-time architectural firm Guirey, Srnka, Arnold and Sprinkle. [GSAS]. His volunteer work on designing for the physically disabled started then, as part of a project with the AIA.

On October 31, 1977 Jim joined William S. Cullen, with whom he had worked at GSAS, to form Cullen/Burr Associates, Architects, Ltd. It was a long and happy relationship, involving public and private work throughout the state of Arizona, including extensive projects at Sky Harbor Airport. They sold the firm to TranSystems Corporation in October 1999, when both Bill Cullen and his wife, Kit, who had been the Business Manager for the firm, retired. Jim became a Vice President with TranSystems and retired from active practice in 2003.

In the happy years that followed in Taos, Jim was active at St. James Episcopal Church, and in several architectural projects.
His happy retirement was cut short when he was struck down by Alzheimer's and was moved to Santa Fe in 2012 and then, in 2013, to West Des Moines, to be near his sister Jeanne and her family.

Jim was born July 10, 1939 in Lincoln, NE to John and Doris Burr. He graduated as an architect from the University of Minnesota in 1962. He is survived by his wife, Karen; sister, Jeanne (Rob) Wallace of West Des Moines; nephew, Brian Wallace of Lincoln, NE; niece, Mandy (Andy) Carney and their children, also of Lincoln; aunt, Pat Brandt of Phoenix; and many cousins in California. He was preceded in death by his father, John W. Burr, mother Doris W. Burr, and brother, John W. Burr, Jr.

Jim will be mourned by his scattered family, by friends in Phoenix and Taos, by close friends from his days in architecture school at the University of Minnesota, and fraternity brothers there, and by his friends and colleagues in Phoenix and in architecture across the country.

Most of all, Jim can be remembered with gratitude by every physically disabled person across the country, because of the work he did in designing for them and as an advocate for the disabled. He continued that work along with his architectural work through most of his life. He wrote publications on designing for the physically disabled starting in 1977, and helped write the Arizona State law in 1985, which preceded the federal law. He was multiply honored for his services to the physically disabled by the AIA and many organizations for the physically disabled.

Memorials may be directed in memory of Jim Burr to Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (A,B.I.L.) 5025 E. Washington St., Ste. 200 Phoenix, AZ 85034, 602-256-2245, The Food Pantry, St. James Episcopal Church 208 Camino de Santiago, 5794 NDCBU, Taos, NM 87571, 575-758-2790, and the School of Architecture, University of Minnesota, 145 Rapson Hall, 89 Church Street, Minneapolis, MN 55455, 612 624-7866.