Jacob Burns

Jacob Burns (1902 - 1993) was a prominent New York attorney specializing in corporate law and estates and trusts. He was a philanthropist, a painter, and a corporate leader. He was a founder and, for several years, chairman of the board of U.S. Vitamin and Pharmaceutical Corp., a public company that merged with Revlon in 1966. Mr. Burns was a member of the Revlon board of directors from 1966 to 1985. Early life Burns was born in the Russian Empire in 1902. When Burns was eleven years old, his family immigrated to the United States from Kyiv, Ukraine. His father, George Burns (born Zorak Bialack) settled in Washington, D.C., around 1915, and opened what may have been that city's first silent movie house on 14th St. NW. As a teen, it was Jacob Burns’ job to deliver the film to the theater on his bicycle and to work the pedals of the player piano throughout the show. Burns graduated from the George Washington University Law School in 1924, receiving both his bachelor's and law degrees. He was a member of the Alpha chapter of Phi Alpha at George Washington. Career Burns became a corporate attorney. In the legal field, he was vice chairman of the Committee on Character and Fitness of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, first Judicial Department. For many years, he was a director of the New York County Lawyers' Association, which awarded him its Medal for Conspicuous Service. He was chairman of the Joint Coordinating Committee on Discipline of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and a member of the House of Delegates of the New York State Bar Association.