David W. Burke
David Warren Burke was an American news executive and political administrator. He was Vice President ABC News, where he worked with Peter Jennings and Barbara Walters, among others. President of CBS News
Born on April 3, 1936 in Brookline, Massachusetts. 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 as well as for New York Governor Hugh Carey, 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.Death
Burke died at a hospital in Medford, Massachusetts 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" Burke, their five children, his sister Constance, and a large extended family.
