SAN FRANCISCO — Former U.S. Rep. John Burton, a salty-tongued and unabashedly liberal San Francisco Democrat who stood up for the working class and nurtured countless political careers, including that of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, died Sunday. He was 92.
Burton died in San Francisco of natural causes, his family said in a statement.
Tributes poured in from California’s top politicians, who recalled Burton as a fierce and tireless advocate for laborers, foster children and the environment. Over the years, Burton mentored Pelosi, former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, current U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and countless other California officials.
“There was no greater champion for the poor, the bullied, the disabled, and forgotten Californians than John Burton. He was a towering figure — a legendary force whose decades of service shaped our state and our politics for the better,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, in a statement.
Another former San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown, said Sunday that death had managed to separate him from a dear friend who was by his side for decades — as college students where they first met, as fellow newbies in the state Assembly and as influential members of California’s Democratic political machine.
“John Burton may have been the best person with whom I served as a member of the Legislature,” said Brown.
Burton believed that government was at its best when it served those who needed it the most, and he never backed down from a fight, said state Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks.
“The greatest way to honor John Burton is to keep fighting with the same grit, tenacity, and heart that defined his life,” Hicks said in a statement.
“He cared a lot,” said Burton’s daughter, Kimiko Burton. “He always instilled in me that we fight for the underdog. There are literally millions of people whose lives he helped over the years who have no idea who he is.”
John Lowell Burton was born Dec. 15, 1932, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in San Francisco with plans to teach history and coach high school basketball.
But he followed his older brother, Phillip Burton, into politics and in 1964 was elected to the state Assembly. A decade later, he moved on to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he pushed legislation protecting wilderness areas in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and condemning apartheid in South Africa.
Burton stepped down in 1982 to address a cocaine addiction, but he didn’t stay gone for long.
In 1988, he returned to the California Assembly and in 1996 he won a state Senate seat, rising to become the chamber’s president. He retired from elected politics in 2004 — only to head up the California Democratic Party from 2009 to 2017.
After retiring, he founded a nonprofit dedicated to foster youth. A remembrance posted Sunday by John Burton Advocates for Youth quoted his exasperation with the lack of resources available for foster youth who aged out of the foster care system.
“Emancipated from what? And into what?” he asked. “Into not being able to have a roof over their heads? Into being frozen out of a chance at higher education? Into unemployment? Into a life on the welfare rolls? Into homelessness? Into jail?”
The organization has advocated successfully for more than 50 legislative reforms, including financial aid for college and extending foster care for some from age 18 to 21.
Barbara Lee, a former U.S. congresswoman and current Oakland mayor, said that in spite of his health challenges, Burton was determined to attend her public inauguration in June, and he did.
“His life’s work reminds us that authentic leadership means having the courage to speak truth to power and never forgetting where you came from,” she said.
In addition to his daughter, Kimiko, Burton is survived by two grandchildren, Juan and Mikala.
Plans for a celebration of life are pending. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to the John Burton Advocates for Youth.
