Burton Fretz; Worked for Senior Citizen Rights

Burton David Fretz, 60, former executive director of the National Senior Citizen Law Center. During his tenure, the center became involved in cases to broaden the availability of food stamps to disabled and elderly people. The center also was co-counsel in a class-action lawsuit alleging age discrimination at the U.S. Agency for International Development. In a settlement last year, the agency admitted no wrongdoing while agreeing to pay $5.5 million to 96 former employees who said they were laid off because of their age. A native of North Newton, Kan., Fretz graduated from Amherst College and the University of Pennsylvania law school. He started his career as an assistant district attorney in Pennsylvania and later directed an office of California Rural Legal Assistance. After moving to Washington, D.C., in the 1970s, Fretz worked for the Migrant Legal Action Program of the Legal Services Corp. On April 5 at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.