Eveline M. Burns; Helped Shape Social Security Act

Eveline M. Burns, a member of the presidential committee that shaped the 1935 Social Security Act, has died at the age of 85.

The New York Times reported Friday that she had died Monday in a hospital in Newton, Pa.

Dr. Burns came to the United States from her native London with her late husband in 1922 after obtaining a doctoral degree at the London School of Economics. She joined the Columbia University faculty in 1928 and taught there until retiring in 1967.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt named her to his Committee on Economic Security in 1934 and it was that group’s report that became the basis for the nation’s Social Security Act in 1935.

Among her published works were “Toward Social Security” in 1936, an explanation of the Social Security Act, and “Social Security and Public Policy” in 1956.