Earle Blais, 84; Former Mayor of Burbank and Water District Director
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Earle C. Blais, 84, who was mayor of Burbank from 1953 to 1957 and a longtime director of the Metropolitan Water District, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Burbank.
A lawyer, Blais was spurred to run for the City Council on a reform ticket by a crime prevention citizens’ committee. With Burbank dubbed a “bedroom for hoodlums” in a 1952 California Crime Commission report, Blais, as mayor, led City Council efforts to toughen law enforcement.
Blais also spearheaded a voter-approved capital improvement program that included the City Hall annex, three fire stations, the central library, a recreation center, a golf course, flood control systems, sewer expansion and railroad crossing overpasses.
In 1961, he began his 25-year representation of Burbank as an MWD director, becoming board chairman in 1979.
A native of Central Falls, R.I., Blais earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Providence College. After serving as an Army officer in the South Pacific during World War II, he earned his law degree from Boston University.
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