George Burtness will follow in his father’s footsteps Wednesday when he accepts the Santa Barbara Foundation’s 82nd Person of the Year award, honoring his thousands of hours of dedicated community service. It’s a tribute bestowed upon his father 47 years ago, and at 93 years old, Burtness calls it “the highest honor of my life.”
Burtness is widely recognized for his extensive contributions to local health care, having served for 17 years as a volunteer with Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, including leading the Volunteer Board, which supports the work of 900 volunteers across three hospitals. He also served as a member of the Cottage Hospital Institutional Review Board and as chair of the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute — a position previously held by his father, Dr. Hildahl Burtness, whose lifelong commitment to service inspired his son’s dedication to philanthropy.
That legacy of compassion began when Dr. Burtness joined Dr. Sansum in 1929 as one of the founding physicians of what would evolve from a small practice into the comprehensive Sansum Clinic that exists today…