Allan ’53 and Joan Burns

A quintessential people person, he valued the opportunity to make other lives better. The purpose of the Fund is to provide support for students at Punahou who qualify for financial aid, in grades 7 – 12, with a preference for students with a generosity of spirit and an interest in helping others.

His older brother, Donald Jr. was stationed at Pearl Harbor, and helped support the family, and when Allan was 12, he and his mother moved to Hawai‘i. Allan enrolled at Punahou School in 8th grade on financial aid. He frequently reminisced about his delight and gratitude to transition from a strict all-boys military school to coeducation and creative inspiration at Punahou.

At Punahou, Allan was known for his quick wit and ability to craft a story, writing for the Variety Show, and he also contributed cartoons for the Honolulu Star Bulletin. Popular among his peers, he served in student government, including as senior class president, chaired the Carnival, was an officer in JROTC, as well as playing JV football, basketball and baseball.

Allan went on to the University of Oregon, applying his drawing talents in the architecture program, but left in his junior year to move to Los Angeles. He met his soulmate Joan Bailey in 1963 and they were married nine months later in June 1964. Together they had two sons, Eric and Matt. Joan had attended summer school at Punahou in 1958, so she immediately understood its importance in Allan’s life. She remembers, “To have something as unique as Punahou in common made us kindred spirits from the start.”

Deeply loyal to Punahou, Allan co-founded the Punahou Alumni Association of Southern California, and he and Joan hosted its first lu‘au at their home on June 26, 1982. The 300 alumni and friends who attended enjoyed Hawaiian food and entertainment by the Punahou Hui Le‘a Nani Singers on tour throughout the West coast. Allan and Joan continued to host Punahou Chapter events and meetings over the next three decades. In 2016, the Burns hosted a 175th Anniversary Celebration for Punahou and led the enthusiastic Southern California Puns in a raucous Happy Birthday toast!

Allan was a leading television and film writer in the 1970s and 1980s and partnered with noted film and television director James L. Brooks. As reported in the New York Times, Brooks said of his partner, “Allan’s range was like nobody’s. I don’t think you ever get an absurdist, a legitimate humorist and a feeling person in one package.”