Employees who work in the birth center at United Hospital in St. Paul will take time this morning to remember a perinatalogist who was known for his keen ability to comfort mothers as they completed high-risk pregnancies. Dr. David Richard Burrus helped deliver his last baby Sept. 2 in St. Paul. After his shift, he flew to Southern California where he lived, in Laguna Beach, but was hit by a car driven by another doctor just after 10 p.m. as he ran across Sepulveda Boulevard near the entrance to Los Angeles International Airport. Burrus later died at a hospital. He was 59. The driver was not cited, Los Angeles police said. It was believed that he was hit while walking to his car, said Anne Thompson, manager of Minnesota Prenatal Physicians, Burrus' employer.

The news shocked his co-workers, who expected the well-liked Burrus to return to work on Sunday. "He could diffuse any situation, and his humor made every day a better day," said Dr. Pat Mills, a colleague at United. "There was never a patient or problem that was too difficult. He loved his work and his patients, and he was so good with those who needed comfort and reassurance. David lived purposely, deeply and generously, and no one ever got shortchanged." Burrus studied at the University of North Dakota Medical School in Grand Forks, and at Tufts School of Medicine in Boston. He completed his internship and residency in 1985 at the University of Minnesota and at Fairview University hospitals. He worked in private

Advertisement
practice and at the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center in Alaska for eight years before he completed a fellowship in perinatalogy at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

In 1997, he joined the Minnesota Prenatal Physicians, a center that provides care and services to women who have high-risk pregnancies. Burrus worked with patients at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale and at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, but spent most of his time at the Minnesota Prenatal Physicians office in Woodbury and at United Hospital, Thompson said. "He was fun, easy to work with and made a busy day go smoothly," said nurse Vickie Bilder, who has worked in United's birth and delivery room since 1979. "He was kindhearted, had a twinkle in his eye, and was always calm in emergencies; never flustered. He was a great guy."

Outside the hospital, Burrus was an "explorer and adventurer," said his wife of 16 years, Pamela. His favorite saying was "jump, run baby," a saying he quoted when he took on the challenges of skydiving, motorcycling and adopting four children. His most recent undertaking was producing "The Columbine Project," an off-Broadway play running in New York, she said. Burrus recently had an e-novel, "Stories of Childbirth," accepted and it will soon be released at www.Booksunbound.com. Employees and co-workers will gather at 7:30 a.m. today at United Hospital, 333 N. Smith Av., St. Paul. They also are planning a Sept. 24 memorial at the Abbott Northwestern Hospital chapel and an open house Oct. 29 in Burrus' honor, according to tributes at www.lovingdavidburrus.com. Burrus is survived by his wife, Pamela, of Laguna Beach, first wife, Sue Burrus of the Redmond, Wash. , and daughters Jodi Burrus Newman, Cameron Denny-Burrus, Jordan Duffy, Rosie Kornak-Burrus and Jelina Kornak-Burrus.

To contact the Newsroom, call 907-274-1111.