7-8-2025
Chair of the Day/Moderator
Bob Burke has written more historical non-fiction books (171) than anyone else in history. He was born in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, and now practices constitutional law and writes books in Oklahoma City. All his books are about Oklahoma’s incredible history. Four have won the Oklahoma Book Award and four have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Burke graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma and a law degree from Oklahoma City University.
Burke’s community service is extensive. He has served on the governing boards of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, Oklahoma Historical Society, First Americans Museum, Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence (founding member), the Jim Thorpe Association (founding member), Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame (founding member), Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, Friends of the Governor’s Mansion, Ford Center Oversight Committee (founding member), the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation, the Oklahoma Arts Council, the Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society, Red Earth, and the Wiley Post Commission.
He is Corporate Secretary of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, a Trustee of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation, and vice-chair of the Oklahoma Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Elections.
In 2004, he received the Governor’s Art Award. In 2006, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus at Oklahoma City University and the University of Oklahoma. He was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Oklahoma Center for the Book and the Regents’ Award at the University of Oklahoma. In 2011, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from Oklahoma City University.
He is a member of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame, the National College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
In 2019, Burke served as Special Master in the nation’s first trial of a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, State of Oklahoma v. Johnson and Johnson.
He lives with his wife, Chimene, in Edmond. He spends a substantial time with his six children and 11 grandchildren.
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