{{Short description|American investigative journalist (1933–2024)}} {{about||the American novelist|David Burnham (novelist)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{infobox writer |name = David Burnham |birth_name = David Bright Burnham |birth_date = {{birth date|1933|01|24}} |birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|2024|10|01|1933|01|24}} |death_place = Spruce Head, Maine, U.S. |alma_mater = Harvard University (BA) |occupation = Journalist |spouse = {{ubl|Sophy Doub (divorced)|{{marriage|Joanne Omang|1985}}}} |children = 2 }}
'''David Bright Burnham''' (January 24, 1933 – October 1, 2024) was an American investigative journalist who worked for ''The New York Times''. His work investigating corruption in the New York Police Department, in which a key source was detective Frank Serpico, served as a basis for the 1973 film ''Serpico''.
==Background== Burnham was born in Boston on January 24, 1933, and raised in New Canaan, Connecticut.<ref name = Gabriel>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/05/nyregion/david-burnham-dead.html|title = David Burnham, Times Reporter Who Exposed Police Graft, Dies at 91|last = Gabriel|first = Trip|date = October 5, 2024|accessdate = October 5, 2024|newspaper = The New York Times|url-access = limited}}</ref> He served in the U.S. Army in the 11th Airborne Division and 82nd Airborne Division.<ref name = Gabriel/> He studied history at Harvard University.<ref name = Gabriel/>
==Career== His career in journalism began in Washington in 1958. He joined ''The New York Times'' in 1967, working in New York before returning to Washington.<ref name = Gabriel/> He rose to prominence in 1970 while writing a series of articles for the ''Times'' on police corruption, which inspired the 1973 film ''Serpico''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLV1AwAAQBAJ&q=david+burnham&pg=PA800|title=Encyclopedia of Journalism|date=September 25, 2009|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=9781452261522|editor-last=Sterling|editor-first=Christopher H.|language=en}}</ref> He was also known for writing a series of articles about labor union activist Karen Silkwood, who mysteriously died while en route to meet Burnham to share evidence that the nuclear facility where she worked knew that its workers were exposed to unhealthy levels of plutonium.<ref name=":1" />
Burnham later returned to Washington. In 1986, he left the ''Times'' and published several books.<ref name = Gabriel/> He later became the co-director of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a project of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and continued to be involved with it until his death.<ref name = Gabriel/><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://newhouse.syr.edu/faculty-staff/david-burnham|title=David Burnham|website=S.I. Newhouse School Of Public Communications|access-date=June 1, 2017|archive-date=September 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908202415/http://newhouse.syr.edu/faculty-staff/david-burnham|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Burnham and his first wife, writer Sophy Doub, had two children and later divorced.<ref name = Gabriel/> In 1985, he married journalist Joanne Omang.<ref name = Gabriel/>
Burnham owned a vacation home in Spruce Head, Maine. He died there on October 1, 2024, at the age of 91, after choking during a meal.<ref name = Gabriel/>
==Awards and honors== * 1968: George Polk Award for Community Service<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.liu.edu/polk-awards/past-winners#1968|title=George Polk Awards Past Award Winners|website=Long Island University|language=en|access-date=October 6, 2024}}</ref> * 1972: Newspaper Reporters Association of New York City Schaefer Gold Typewriter Award for Public Service<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/20/archives/times-reporter-wins-prize-for-articles-on-police-graft.html|title=Times Reporter Wins Prize For Articles on Police Graft|date=May 20, 1972|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 1, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> * 1987: Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://aliciapatterson.org/users/david-burnham|title=David Burnham|website=Alicia Patterson Foundation|access-date=June 1, 2017|archive-date=September 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908201344/http://aliciapatterson.org/users/david-burnham|url-status=dead}}</ref> * 1990: Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for Best Book: ''A Law Unto Itself: Power, Politics, and the IRS''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ire.org/awards/ire-awards/winners/1990-ire-award-winners/|title=1990 IRE Award Winners|website=Investigative Reporters and Editors|access-date=June 1, 2017|archive-date=September 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909052226/https://ire.org/awards/ire-awards/winners/1990-ire-award-winners/|url-status=dead}}</ref> * 1992: Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Bellagio, Italy<ref name=":0" /> * 2003: John Jay College of Criminal Justice Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humane Letters<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jstop.jjay.cuny.edu/commencement/index.html|title=Commencement 2015|date=June 3, 2015|website=John Jay College of Criminal Justice|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612135139/http://jstop.jjay.cuny.edu/commencement/index.html|archive-date=June 12, 2015|url-status=dead|access-date=June 1, 2017}}</ref> * 2006: National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame Inductee<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/hall-of-fame/david-burnham/|title=David Burnham|website=First Amendment Center|language=en-US|access-date=June 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110094856/http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/hall-of-fame/david-burnham/|archive-date=January 10, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
===Books=== {{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?11106-1/law-unto ''Booknotes'' interview with Burnham on ''A Law Unto Itself'', February 11, 1990], C-SPAN}} * ''The Rise of the Computer State.'' New York: Random House, 1983. {{ISBN|978-0394514376}} * ''A Law Unto Itself: Power, Politics, and the IRS.'' New York: Random House, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0394560977}} * ''Above the Law: Secret Deals, Political Fixes, and Other Misadventures of the U.S. Department of Justice.'' New York: Scribner, 1996. {{ISBN|978-0684806990}}
===Selected articles=== * [https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/25/archives/graft-paid-to-police-here-said-to-run-into-millions-survey-links.html "Graft Paid to Police Here Said to Run Into Millions."] ''The New York Times'', April 25, 1970. * [https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/19/archives/death-of-plutonium-worker-questioned-by-union-official-union-has.html "Death of Plutonium Worker Questioned by Union Official."] ''The New York Times'', November 19, 1974.
==References== <references />
==External links== *{{C-SPAN|12743}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnham, David}} Category:1933 births Category:2024 deaths Category:20th-century American journalists Category:American investigative journalists Category:20th-century American male journalists Category:Deaths from choking Category:Harvard College alumni Category:People from Knox County, Maine Category:People from New Canaan, Connecticut Category:The New York Times journalists Category:United States Army soldiers Category:Accidental deaths in Maine