| David Burnham | |
| Birth Name: | David Bright Burnham |
| Birth Date: | 24 January 1933 |
| Birth Place: | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Spruce Head, Maine, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Harvard University (BA) |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
| 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.
Burnham was born in Boston on January 24, 1933, and raised in New Canaan, Connecticut.[1] He served in the U.S. Army in the 11th Airborne Division and 82nd Airborne Division.[1] He studied history at Harvard University.[1]
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.[1] He rose to prominence in 1970 while writing a series of articles for the Times on police corruption, which inspired the 1973 film Serpico.[2] 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.
Burnham later returned to Washington. In 1986, he left the Times and published several books.[1] 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.[1] [3]
Burnham and his first wife, writer Sophy Doub, had two children and later divorced.[1] In 1985, he married journalist Joanne Omang.[1]
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.[1]