David Warren Burke (April 3, 1936 – April 18, 2014) was an American news executive and political administrator. He was Vice President ABC News, where he worked with Peter Jennings and

Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...

, among others.David Burke, former CBS News chief, dies at 78
CBS News; accessed April 20, 2014. President of

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

(1988–90) Born on April 3, 1936 in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

. Burke was the son of a police officer and grandson of a firefighter. He graduated from Tufts University with a degree in economics. Following Tufts University he began working at Lever Brothers factory mixing soap and loading freight cars. After a year the plant was closed and Burke moved on to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he earned his MBA, he worked for United States Senator

Edward M. Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

(D-MA) as well as for New York Governor Hugh Carey (D-NY), as secretary. One of his college professors, George P. Shultz, helped him get a job at the White House under President John F. Kennedy as executive secretary of the Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy. In 1965, Mr. Burke joined Senator Kennedy's staff as a legislative assistant. Within three weeks he was shepherding legislation to abolish the poll tax and liberalize immigration. The next year, he became administrative assistant, the top job in a Senate office. In 1995, Burke was appointed by then President Bill Clinton to the Broadcasting Board of Governors as its first chairman. The David Burke Distinguished Journalism Award is named after him. The award recognizes courage, integrity, and professionalism of journalists who work for media networks under the

U.S. Agency for Global Media The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), is an independent agency of the United States government that broadcasts news and information. It describes its mission, "vital to US nation ...

. Burke left the board in 1998.

Death

Burke died at a hospital in

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus alo ...

on April 18, 2014, aged 78. He had vascular dementia. He was survived by his wife of more than a half century, Beatrice C. "Trixie" (née Pollock) Burke, their five children, his sister Constance, and a large extended family.Former CBS News President David Burke Dies
Worldnews.com; accessed April 20, 2014.

References

1935 births 2014 deaths New York (state) Democrats American business executives Presidents of CBS News Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni Place of birth missing {{US-business-bio-1930s-stub