Brian P. Burns

Burns's father, the Honorable John J. Burns (1901–1957), became a full professor of law at Harvard Law School at the age of 29, and sat on the Massachusetts Superior Court at age 30.

Burns Sr. was the first General Counsel to the newly formed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chaired by Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., and established by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934.

Brian Patrick Burns (July 12, 1936 – August 12, 2021) was an American entrepreneur, attorney and philanthropist.

Burns was a distinguished collector of Irish art.

In 1936, after resigning his position as counsel to the SEC, Burns Sr. entered private legal practice as a senior partner in the firm of Burns, Currie, Rich and Rice of New York.

Brian P. Burns and his wife Eileen have eight children, four each from previous marriages, and fifteen grandchildren.

Brian's four children were from his first marriage to Sheila O'Connor Burns.

He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1957.

He was a graduate of St. Sebastian's School in Needham, MA.

Brian P. Burns was chairman of BF Enterprises, Inc., a publicly owned real estate holding and development company.

In 1958–1959, he was Special Assistant to the Regional Administrator of the SEC's New York Regional Office.

In 1959, at the age of 23, Brian P. Burns received a law degree from Harvard Law School.

He began his career as an associate at Webster, Sheffield, Fleischmann, Hitchcock & Brookfield in New York City (1960–1964).

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy, America's first Irish Catholic president, visited his ancestral home in County Wexford, Ireland.

During this visit, he and Ireland's President Éamon de Valera formed the American Irish Foundation to facilitate fundraising efforts for Irish and Irish-American charities and institutions.

President Kennedy appointed Brian P. Burns to be the first director of the American Irish Foundation in 1963.

As director of the American Irish Foundation, Burns played a pivotal role in fundraising for the restoration of Marsh's Library at St. Patrick's Close in Dublin.

He also founded the American Law Library at University College Cork in honor of his late father.

In an effort to expand the reach of the American Irish Foundation, Brian P. Burns spearheaded the merger of the American Irish Foundation and The Ireland Funds, founded by Dan Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the Irish-born chairman of Heinz.

He was a partner at several law firms in San Francisco including, Burns & Whitehead (1978–1986); Cullinan, Burns & Helmer (1975–1978); and Cullinan, Hancock, Rothert & Burns (1965–1974).

Burns was a director of the Kellogg Company of Battle Creek, Michigan, from 1979 to 1989 and served as the first Chairman of its Finance Committee.

He also served as a director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of New York, Inc.

In 1986, Brian P. Burns and the Burns family founded The John J. Burns Library at Boston College.

The Burns Library is the college's repository of rare books, special collections, and archives.

On St. Patrick's Day 1987, the two organizations merged at a White House ceremony to form The American Ireland Fund.

Presiding over the ceremony, President Ronald Reagan remarked:

"George Bernard Shaw once wrote: 'The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: That's the essence of inhumanity.' Well, no one involved in either of these two fine organizations could ever be labeled indifferent."

The American Ireland Fund is the largest of 12 funds comprising The Ireland Funds.

These funds are private entities dedicated to raising money for Irish charities and the well-being of members of the Irish diaspora.

Burns was a lifetime trustee of the organization.

Also in 1996, Burns received the Eire Society of Boston's Gold Medal award, an honor he shares with other well-known Irish and Irish-American figures, including the author Colm Tóibín and former President of Ireland Mary McAleese.

Burns was featured in Patricia Harty's 2000 book, The Greatest Irish Americans of the 20th Century, and named one of the top 100 Art Collectors by Arts and Antiques magazine in 1996.

During the presentation of Palm Beach Atlantic University's American Free Enterprise Medal to Brian P. Burns in 2012, former U.S. Senator George LeMieux remarked that Burns and wife Eileen were the second married couple to receive PBA's highest awards, the American Free Enterprise medal and the Women of Distinction Award which Eileen Burns received in 2011.

Burns received Palm Beach Atlantic University's American Free Enterprise medal on November 8, 2012.

On March 21, 2013, Brian P. Burns was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame alongside former Vice-President (and now President) of the United States, Joe Biden.

He was introduced at the ceremony by John L. Lahey, President of Quinnipiac University.

In 2013, Burns was inducted as a member of The Order of St. Patrick, a prestigious award created by Heritage Publishing to honor major achievements of Irish Americans.

In December 2016, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times reported that then president-elect Donald Trump intended to name Burns as the next United States Ambassador to Ireland.

However, in June 2017, Burns withdrew his name from consideration, due to ill health.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Brian P. Burns was a third-generation Irish-American who traced his ancestry to County Kerry in the South-West region of Ireland.