William Burt, an American pastor, missionary, and bishop, was born in Cornwall, England, on October 23, 1852. His family immigrated to the US, where he studied at Wesleyan University in Middleton, Connecticut, in 1879 and the Drew Theological School in Madison, New Jersey, in 1881. On May 20, 1904, he was elected a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and appointed Resident Bishop in Europe, where he served extensively and was also designated Episcopal Visitor to other areas including Africa and the Orient. He returned to the US in 1912 and assumed episcopal leadership of the Buffalo, New York, area. He retired in 1924 and died in Clifton Springs, New York, on April 9, 1936, and was buried in Lynn, Massachusetts. In 1919, when the Silver Lake Institute was burdened with a huge debt, he helped raise money, made a large personal contribution, received property lots that were later sold, and gave the money to the Institute, which used it to improve Auditorium Park and rename it Bishop Burt Park.