In 1970 Don Burris took my conscientious objector case pro bono with a colleague David Jones. He saw me through my successful CO claim and then guided me through the more contentious alternative work assignment process. After working for a year, I was surprised by a call from Don asking me if I would lead a class action suit against Curtis Tarr and the Selective Service System, claiming that Nixon's late 1971 draft moratorium illegally omitted conscientious objectors. He won our suit and freed more than 600 COs from their work assignments. The government declined to appeal. Don Burris will always have a special place in my heart. My best wishes to Patti.

I miss the big guy, good friend from law school forward!  He was always great on keeping in touch and visiting.  I hope you're okay and doing well Patti ...

Don was such a sweet, intelligent and committed man. I had the privilege of being his fitness trainer for a few years. He left an indelible amd warm impression on me. God bless his family. May he rest in peace.

Campaign Fund Raiers — with George Glasco, Dick Durbin and Don Burris

Dinner in Don's honor — with Don Burris and George Glasco

So sorry for your loss. Don was larger than life. He always brought humor and wit to the room. Without him i never would have discovered Buddy Holly in Lubbock, TX. That’s where i first met Don. May he rest in peace! 

I just found out about Donald's passing today, 6-12-2023. My parents and his were very good friends. I lived next door to Donald in Brooklyn and when his family moved to Long Island mine did too. We were like cousins. We saw each other often and did some crazy things together. When Donald moved to California, I was living there too. I saw Donald several times while living there. We both loved Japanese food and met for lunch several times. I left Los Angeles in the late 1970's and we lost touch. In 2022, I contacted Donald after I found his phone number on the internet.  We spoke for a while and were going to get together.  Shortly after we spoke, I found out I had cancer and was busy getting treated and did not get back to him. I was going to call him this morning and  found out about his passing. All my memories of Donald are good ones. I am not sure any one will read this but if they do, they already know Donald  was the best of the best.  This is a sad day for me to find out abut his passing.

Don was one of a kind.  Kind, Funny, Big heart, Great company, sharp legal mind. Any outing with Don was a great joyful adventure. 

Ill always remember meeting him at a GULC alumni basketball game where he was the oldest player on the Court  by at least 20 years.  His body was covered in wraps and braces but he never stopped smiling and talking.  When we won the game - odd graduation years versus even graduation years - you would have thought he won the World Series.   A picture of the winning team was still on his desk when I visited him in LA years later (or perhaps he put it there for my visit).  

Deb and I will miss his visits to DC.  Always a pleasure when the name on my cell phone said Don Burris.  We'll miss you Don baby.  Take care Patti and family.

Paul and I were delighted to have met Don, Patti, and Tamar when we were in Petrolia. We shared a love of looking for relatives in hotel phone books and anchovies! Don was a second or third cousin of my mother, and my mother remembered his family from Brooklyn. My condolences to all of the Burris Family. Don’s passing leaves a void in the legal profession.

Don and I go way back. All the way to middle school after we both moved to LI from Brooklyn. We maintained a close friendship for all of these years even though we lived on opposite coasts.  We enjoyed many capers together and had fun plotting and executing them. Don was, from the beginning, crazy and fun but always kind, generous and caring. Along the way, we often returned to our old East Meadow NY neighborhood and experienced the haunts of our youth and reminisced about our boyhoods. A few months ago, we met in NYC, and after eating our way through Manhattan, and then on a whim, we decided to visit our old neighborhoods in Brooklyn including our childhood homes and took in all the sights we experienced as kids.  We topped off the day of nostalgia with a Nathan’s hot dog in Coney Island, quickly followed by a sumptuous dinner at a premier Italian restaurant. We had a splendid time, and I will always cherish the day and my adventures with Don.

Howard Margules

Patti, Sending our condolences in the passing of your husband.  Sending hugs from Val and Bob Smith

Lovely obit, lovely man.  Left out was his basketball exploits, over exaggerated as they might have been 🏀🏀

I am so happy you included Don's love of mayonnaise in his obituary! I'll always remember the time I summoned an elevator only to have the door open on Don, alone in the otherwise empty elevator, eating a mayonnaise sandwich (i.e., mayonnaise between two slices of bread). When he saw me he said "Don't tell Patti," explaining that the elevator was the only place he could safely eat a mayonnaise sandwich without Patti finding out and admonishing him about it. I promised to kept his secret (which I did until today). I assume Don would forgive me for telling that story now. He will be greatly missed.