Barbara Burns, a political and community dynamo from the North Side, died Wednesday of an undisclosed illness at Allegheny General Hospital.

Ms. Burns, 76, served as president of the board of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, was a member of City Council and was the first woman from Pittsburgh to become a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

A graduate of Chatham College and the old Allegheny High School, she was a member of the school board from 1983 to 1994, was its president from 1988 to 1993, and was elected to the state House as a Democrat in a special election in 1994 to finish the term of Tom Murphy after his election as Pittsburgh mayor. She lost her re-election bid in the 1994 primary election to Don Walko.

In 2000, she became a member of City Council and served o

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