[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 194 (Friday, December 16, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING AND COMMEMORATING THE LIFE OF JAMES E. BURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2011

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and commemorate the 
life of James E. Burch, military veteran, advertising executive and 
lifelong anti-war and environmental activist. A renaissance man with a 
passion for leaving the world better than he found it, Jim spent his 
life acting on the life philosophy passed along to him by his mother, 
``I am my brother's keeper.''
  Born in Evanston, Illinois on February 27, 1926, Jim served in the 
United States Infantry in the South Pacific. At age 19, he became the 
program director of the Armed Forces Radio Service station WVTQ in 
Osaka, Japan. He was honorably discharged in May 1946. After working in 
the radio business in Hollywood, he moved to Arizona where he met and 
married his wife of 61 years, Wileta. In 1951, Jim, Wileta and their 
two children, Bill and Barbara moved to northern California where Jim 
began a 23-year career working with the San Francisco-based advertising 
agency Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn where he created numerous 
award winning advertisements.
  Jim left his professional position and began his second career as a 
volunteer activist. Instrumental in the beginnings and ongoing work of 
Sequoia Seminar, Creative Initiative, Project Survival, Beyond War and 
the Foundation for Global Community, Jim contributed his many talents 
to groundbreaking projects. Among them were, the beginning of a 
recycling program in Palo Alto, California that became a model for the 
Nation, the first space bridge to connect the United States and the 
Soviet Union during the Cold War (1984), the first satellite space 
bridge connecting seven countries on five continents (1985) and the 
creation of a series of nature documentaries that were featured on PBS. 
Jim served as a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for 
Global Community until December of 2010.
  Launching yet a third career, Jim was elected to the Palo Alto City 
Council in 1999. In 2005, at the age of 78, he was elected mayor, the 
oldest mayor in the city's history. While knowing that the job required 
a local focus, Jim continued to bring his understanding of global 
interconnectedness to city government. He observed on more than one 
occasion that, ``It's one world, it's one Earth, it's one planet; it's 
one ecosystem. We're either all going to make it or nobody's going to 
make it.''
  Jim is survived by Wileta, his son Bill Burch, (Bill's wife, Kathy), 
his daughter Barbara Lindsay, (Barbara's husband, Targe) and 
grandchildren Merrill Burch, David Lindsay, (David's wife, Stephanie), 
Kristina Lindsay, and his many friends and colleagues whose lives were 
enriched by his sense of humor, creativity and generosity.

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