Former Senate Leader Praised at Funeral Mass

Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena) eulogized former Senate President Pro Tem Hugh M. Burns (D-Fresno) as the “quintessential politician” at a funeral Mass on Wednesday.

Burns, 86, died last week after years of deteriorating health. He led the Senate from 1957-1969 while Jesse M. Unruh (D-Inglewood) ruled as Assembly Speaker. Unruh died of cancer last year.

About 100 “old guard” politicians, lobbyists and Capitol aides attended Burns’ rites, conducted in a downtown Sacramento cathedral. A Senate floor memorial service is scheduled for January after the 1989-90 legislative session gets under way.

“He knew how to get people to do the right things,” Dills said of Burns, a friend since they both served in the Assembly in the late 1930s. “He ran the Senate on the basis of fellowship, and friendship, and good will, regardless of (political) party.”

Burns’ largest legislative achievement was the passage of a 1959 landmark bill authorizing the California Water Project that brought surplus Northern California water to Southern California.