Sue Burns (August 9, 1950 – July 19, 2009) was an American

businesswoman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

who was the senior general partner (principal owner and largest shareholder) of the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

baseball franchise.

Early life

Burns was born in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

on August 9, 1950. She earned a degree at

California State University-Hayward California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 post ...

and was a math teacher at the Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley, California from 1983–1992. She was married to Harmon E. "Buzz" Burns who was an investor in the group that purchased the Giants in 1992. Mr. Burns acquired wealth as the Vice Chairman of the mutual fund investment firm Franklin Resources. He died of heart failure in 2006 at age 61. Upon his death Mrs. Burns became the principal owner of the Giants. Upon her death the family interest in the Giants (estimated at 20-40%) passed to her daughters, Trina Burns Dean and Tori Burns Humphrey. The role of managing partner for the Giants was assumed by

Bill Neukom William Horlick Neukom (born 1942) is an American former managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants baseball team ownership group. He held this position from May 2008 to December 31, 2011 and he was the managing partner when the Giants ...

Death

She died on July 19, 2009, a week after learning she had

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

References

1950 births 2009 deaths Businesspeople from California California State University, East Bay alumni Deaths from lung cancer in California Major League Baseball owners Businesspeople from Anchorage, Alaska People from Portola Valley, California San Francisco Giants owners 20th-century American educators 20th-century American businesspeople {{US-baseball-business-bio-stub