Dave Burns passed away peacefully on August 3, 2007 at his Los Altos home surrounded by family and friends, after a year-long battle with brain cancer. Dave lived in many places as part of a Navy family, with many years spent in Orange Park, Florida. His favorite place was always California, where he settled in 1982. He received a BS degree in computer engineering from MIT and a MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. Dave worked at a number of Silicon Valley companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Software Publishing, SGI and Oracle, before becoming a marketing consultant. Additional years were spent consulting at companies such as Xerox, Quantum and Cisco.

Dave loved children, and more than anything in the world adored his four children, Jon and Isabel, age 12, and Jillian and Andie, age 10. Dave coached soccer and baseballs teams for his kids, volunteered at the school, showed up to every game, recital or award with cameras in hand. Dave loved working at home so that he could greet them at the door after school and help them with their homework. Dave brought fun and laughter to every day, and taught the kids to be kind, responsible, and well-mannered.

In addition to his children, Dave leaves behind and will be greatly missed by his wife, Karlie Arkin, his parents, Doris and Dale Burns, his sister Darla, niece Amber and nephew Chuck.

Dave shared his lifelong interest in science with those around him. He and his telescope made trips to Tahoe with friends, hosted viewings at the elementary school and hosted boy scout merit badges. Dave shared his love of science by volunteering each year to organize the Science Fair at Loyola Elementary School. He encouraged the kids to have fun with science, and not to worry about everything being perfect. Dave had dozens of hobbies, especially enjoying genealogy, 70's rock and roll, movies, travel, and golf. He could easily drive a golf ball 300 yards, if one wasn't too particular about the direction it went.

Dave was a big man with a big laugh, a big family, and a knack for chopping down Christmas Trees far too large for his house. Dave's cheerful heart, hardy laugh, generous nature, quick wit and terrific sense of humor will be deeply missed by his family and friends.

A memorial service to celebrate Dave's life will be held at 2:00 PM Friday, August 10, 2007 at Temple Beth Am, 26790 Arastradero Rd., Los Altos Hills, reception following.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to T.H.E. Brain Trust, http://www.braintrust.org/online.htm or T.H.E. Brain Trust, 186 Hampshire St., Cambridge, MA 02139-1320, or any charity of choice. The family also wishes to extend a sincere thank you for all the help received from their community of friends over the past year.

We are honored and deeply grateful that the following donors have chosen to
celebrate the life of David Burns with a memorial gift to T.H.E. BRAIN TRUST.

"In memory of Dave Burns, a great dad who will be missed by all who knew him."
~ Peggy Benenato

AirCom Mechanical, Inc.
Karlie Arkin
Nancy C Beatty
Mitchell and Jill Anderson
Peggy Benenato
Laura Bierbrauer
Virginia Dimpfl
Andy Dysart
Jeanine A Ewing
Diana Goble
Jacqueline Gorelick
Teri Graf-Pulvino
Jane C Halligan
Mr. and Mrs. Dan Hanley
Barbara Herzberg
Valerie Kaminski
Karlie's Bulldog Friends
Paul A. Larango
Margaret Laescke-Jacobs and Kenneth Jacobs
Rabbi David Meyer
Mary Nakahara
Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Rose
Jeffrey Spoelstra
Jean Shimoguchi
Mr. and Mrs. Brad Tharp
Mr. and Mrs. Rodey Tharp
Mrs. Martin Weill

We update this page periodically. Please let us know if your name has not yet been included: info@braintrust.org.