Arthur Stanton Burns

Arthur moved to Jacksonville in 1942 with his parents, Seymour and Rose Burns and his younger brother, Marshall. He attended Spring Park Elementary in its first year followed by Bolles during WWII, and graduated Landon High school class of 1949. Voted best dressed! He loved the friendships made for over seventy years and never missed a Landon ’49 reunion.

After a few years at Emory University Arthur volunteered for the draft in 1953 near the end of the Korean War, on the same day as two of his later to be golfing foursome, well known Gordon Thompson Jr. and Larry Richter, both also deceased. On the day of his release from the army, September 15, 1955, he entered Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia. At graduation 4 years later Arthur not only received the Alpha Omega award for the highest academic average in the 1959 class of 131 students, but also the singular prestigious Faculty Award for achieving the highest proficiency in dentistry, recognizing his superior clinical and manual skills. Then, after training at his “dream” graduate school, the department of orthodontics at the University of Washington, in Seattle, Arthur returned to Jacksonville in 1961 to start his practice, to which he was obsessively devoted and loved dearly, mainly his interacting with patients, parents and referring dentists. He was known as the “hippy orthodontist,” the first professional here who had long hair and along with staff wore bell bottom jeans and played blues and rock and roll on the radio. His office, near Lee High School was swarmed by future band members and friends of Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special in the late 60’s and 70’s.

He worked his way up to president of the Florida Association of Orthodontists in 1984, most importantly being on the committee to write the first Florida statutes which delineated clinical orthodontic procedures allowed to be delegated to assistants. He was only the third Floridian orthodontist to be invited into the prestigious honorary Edward Angle Society of Orthodontists based on his superior clinical outcomes. In the mid 70’s he and his then partner, Dr. Clark Hoshall, were appointed to the staff of then University Hospital in the newly created oral and maxillofacial surgery department as consultant teachers in surgical orthodontic correction of facial deformity.

As just a plain citizen, he enjoyed the depth in which he was able to constructively participate in the criminal justice system. As a Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences for over 30 years, he was a consultant in forensic dentistry to a number of law enforcement and state agencies in Northeast Florida, qualifying as an expert in his field in some Florida judicial circuits in capital murder trials, for both the prosecution and the defense in bite mark cases. As a consultant to the District IV Medical Examiner, in addition to making many dental identifications in death investigations, he orchestrated the dental identification of most of the victims of the 1984 PBA crash at the Jacksonville airport, with the help of a wonderful team of volunteer local dentists and hygienists which he had trained. Being asked to aid the overwhelmed dental ID team at the New York City morgue after the World Trade disaster 9/11, he volunteered and completed five 12 hour shifts in December 2001 including Christmas day. In civil malpractice litigation he testified as an expert in Florida cases both for defendants and plaintiffs.

Until 1995 Arthur was a Florida certified criminal justice instructor teaching close up forensic photography and case management at FDLE violent crime seminars and at the JSO police academy, including himself being both a teacher and student in the complete homicide investigation course in 1990. He also completed the JSO police reserve training serving a short time in the

Sheriff’s 4 wheel drive posse. Arthur served on Mayor Hazouri’s crime commission and Mayor Austin’s citizens’ advisory group, and was a member of the Police Council and the 200 club.

He is survived by his greatest love, gorgeous Olly (Olga), his wife of over 60 years and daughter Jill Marléne Burns. He was predeceased by his beloved brother, Marshall Burns, M.D. (Susan). Arthur was an over seventy year member of the Jewish Temple Ahavath Chesed.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in Arthur's name to the following places: River Garden Hebrew Home, which can be accessed at (https://rivergarden.org/foundation/donate/),

and Congregation Ahavath Chesed, available at (https://congregationahavathchesed.shulcloud.com/payment.php).