Isaac “Jack” Jackson Burson Jr., who served as Eunice alderman at-large from Jan. 1, 1995, to Dec. 31, 2018, died Monday. He was 85 years old.
Burson was a guiding force on the local and state levels from the Eunice Board of Aldermen, the parish School Board to a business leader as chairman of the Basile State Bank Board of Directors.
Burson helped write the Louisiana Constitution in 1973. In St. Landry Parish, he was chairman of the commission that wrote the St. Landry Parish home rule charter adopted by voters in 2004.
He practiced law in Eunice and surrounding areas for nearly 55 years.
He served on the St. Landry Parish School Board during challenging times as the spirit and laws of the Civil Rights Era were being implemented.
As an assistant district attorney for St. Landry Parish for 26 years, he was a criminal prosecutor and served as legal counsel for the School Board and the St. Landry Parish Police Jury. Later, he served as legal counsel to school districts across the state and local fire districts.
Fifty years ago he became a principal in the Basile State Bank in his hometown, and 30 years ago he and his friends opened the branch in Eunice. Next month a new bank in Eunice will open.
He was a graduate of UL Lafayette with a bachelor of arts in political science, Georgetown University Graduate School, Washington, D.C. (Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in American Government); and Tulane University Law School class of 1965.
He taught an Introduction to Government course for freshmen at LSUE.
Burson was a member of St. Anthony Catholic Church where he has served in the past as Lector, Minister of Communion and Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus.
Burson was born on Feb. 12, 1939, in New Iberia, the eldest of six children.
Survivors include his wife, Gwen Burson; a sister, Joan Burson; his children Myra Burson, Benjamin Burson, and Isaac “Zac” Jackson Burson III and his wife Julie; by Gwen’s children Karen Johnson and Gary Bergeron and his partner Kent Mire.
His late wife, Myra Bordelon Burson, was principal at St. Edmund’s Elementary School.
Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday at Quirk and Son Funeral Home in Eunice with a rosary at 6 p.m. Visitation will resume Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. at Quirk and Son with a Mass to follow at 11 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Eunice and interment at Mt. Calvary Cemetery.
The family requests that memorials be made to the Eunice Library or Evangeline Parish Public Library, the LSUE Foundation, Basile Wrestling, St. Edmund School, or St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church.
