By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mr. Burton

GLENDALE - Stephen Henry Burton III's roots were firmly planted in Cincinnati.

He was the namesake of Stephen Henry Burton, his great-great-grandfather, who was the first mayor of Avondale and the person for whom Burton Elementary and Burton Avenue were named.

It was Martha, the wife of the first Stephen Burton, who suggested Avondale's name because a stream behind her house reminded her of the River Avon in England, according to Stephen Burton III's daughter, Martha Whipple Burton of Baltimore.

But Mr. Burton spent his life in Glendale, where he served as clerk/treasurer from 1975 to 1992.

It was at his home there that Mr. Burton, 80, died of a stroke Sunday.

He was an investment counselor for Scudder, Stevens and Clark in Cincinnati from 1949 to 1987 and a member of the board of trustees of Clovernook Center for the Blind in North College Hill for 16 years.

He and his twin brother, Robert Mitchell Brown, who preceded him in death, were born to Alice Wahl and Murdock Tylor Burton in Cincinnati on Dec. 2, 1922.

After graduating from Loomis Institute in Windsor, Conn., in 1941, he and his brother entered Amherst College in Massachusetts, where they attended for two years before volunteering for the Army.

Mr. Burton fought in Europe with the Third Army 95th Infantry Division and was honorably discharged at war's end. He graduated from Harvard University in 1947.

He also served as vestryman of Christ Church Glendale.

His son, Stephen Henry Burton IV, preceded him in death.

In addition to his daughter, Martha, survivors include his wife of 18 years, Celia Lovatt Burton; two sons, Leland Wilson Burton of Glendale and Crompton Babcock Burton of Athens, Ohio; three stepchildren, Susan Bortz Myers of Indian Hill, and Pamela Budd Lovatt and Charles William Lovatt, both of Glendale; a brother, M. Tylor Burton of Baltimore; four grandchildren; seven stepgrandchildren; and three stepgreat-grandchildren.

Services have been held. Burial was in Spring Grove Cemetery.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com