Paul Cutler Burgess

Paul Cutler Burgess succumbed to interstitial lung disease at John Muir Medical Center on July 28, 2025.

Paul was born in Manhattan, New York City in 1944, the second of three sons. His family later moved to San Francisco where he started elementary school. Paul learned to write with his right hand at this time, despite his left-handed dominance. From this moment on, he was proud to be ambidextrous.

Paul graduated from Redwood High School in Marin County and later attended Stanford University. There he studied physics and discovered Star Trek, both life-long passions. He loved his time at Stanford, studying, working at the linear accelerator and rowing. 

He paused his collegiate studies to serve a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was assigned to serve in Germany, where he worked in West Berlin for 2.5 years. 

He later finished his degree in Physics with a minor in Math. He stayed at Stanford to enroll in their MBA program. By this time, the Vietnam war was raging and Paul decided to enter the Navy’s ROTC program in 1968. 

In June 1970 and during the transition period of graduating from Stanford and picking up his commission with the Navy, Paul visited his home in Greenbrae, CA. His mother hosted a dinner with a guest list that included Martha Elizabeth Burton. This highly orchestrated dinner was deemed successful only when Paul and Martha wed a year later in August of 1971 at the Idaho Falls Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Paul’s first duty station was at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. He was an intelligence officer on the USS

Daniel Webster, a Lafayette-class ballistic missile submarine. For his service, he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, a meritorious unit commendation.

While living in Honolulu, Hawaii, Paul and Martha welcomed their first child, a daughter, in 1973.   By 1974, Paul completed his active duty commitment, joined the reserves and moved the family to Walnut Creek, CA. He began his long career in Quality Assurance with Pacific, Gas and Electric. He was proud of his involvement with the development and maintenance of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Reactors. He worked for PG&E for over 35 years, commuting on BART and walking over a mile home every day for those decades. This daily walk was one example of the many economies he made to provide for his large family and one of the many routines he adhered to that made for a stable family life.

Paul loved Martha’s cooking, WWII history, movies and diet soda. Most notably, Paul was an avid hiker. His mid-life crisis included summiting the Tetons in Wyoming (and skydiving). Closer to home, he regularly hiked on Mount Diablo. He once walked to its peak from his front door in Walnut Creek. More often, Martha would drop him off at Castle Rock and pick him up at the summit. As he aged, she would pick him up at lower points on the mountain. On the last hike, which was about 2 or 3 years ago, Martha waited a very long time at their designated meeting place. She called a ranger to find him and pick him up. 

Paul was a man of faith. He served voluntarily at church in any position that was asked of him. This included teaching Sunday school to adults; teaching Sunday school to small children; serving as Bishop in a local congregation; serving in any supportive way to a small Cambodian congregation in Oakland; and working at the LDS Temple in Oakland. His church service was fueled by his convictions. Jesus Christ and his atonement were as real to Paul as gravity and other physical forces he once studied. 

Paul is preceded in death by his parents, William Miles Burgess and Anne Irene Cutler; and his two brothers, Bruce Miles Burgess and Miles Martin Burgess. He is survived by his wife, Martha, and five children, Elizabeth of Heber City, UT; Paul (Jennefer Fisher) of Greenwood, IN; Dixon of Walnut Creek, CA; Nancy (Kurt Christen) of Swansboro, NC; and Kimberly (Garrett Bodily) of Humble, TX. He will be missed by his 13 grandchildren, Daniel, Kyle, Clara, Russell, Alia, Wyatt, Thor, Keith, Julianne, Jasper, June, Sawyer and Pepper Jane. 

Services were held on August 2, 2025, at the Northgate Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Walnut Creek, CA. He is interred at Oakmont Memorial Park in Lafayette, CA, where he can see Mount Diablo every day.