Eugene Allan Burdick (October 15, 1912 – November 3, 2000) was a judge in North Dakota's Fifth Judicial District[1] and a surrogate judge of the North Dakota Supreme Court.[2] He was on the bench from 1953 until he retired in 1978.
Eugene Allan Burdick was born in a log cabin just east of Williston, North Dakota to North Dakota lawyer, rancher, author and politician Usher L. Burdick and Emma C. Robertson Burdick.[3] Burdick's birthplace served as the Little Muddy Post Office in Dakota Territory in the 1880s. Burdick had an older brother, Quentin Northrup Burdick, who served 32 years in the U.S. Senate, and a younger sister, Eileen Burdick Levering. The three followed in their father's footsteps, each graduating from law school.
Burdick grew up in Williston, graduating from Williston High School in 1929 at the age of 16, and entering the University of Minnesota Law School that fall. The summers of 1930 and 1931, he travelled with his father trading buckskins and beads with Sioux Indians in exchange for articles of finished beadwork. The extensive Burdick Collection and photos he took are now housed at the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum.[4][5]
On February 14, 1939, Valentine's Day, Burdick married Emma May Picard. Three children were born to the marriage, a daughter, Cynthia, who died in infancy; a son, William Eugene Burdick; and a daughter, Elizabeth Burdick Cantarine. The Burdick marriage lasted 61 years until his death on November 3, 2000, in Sarasota, Florida, where they lived in retirement. Mrs. Burdick died in 2003.
^North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum Yutō'keca = Transitions : the Burdick Collection. State Historical Society of North Dakota. 1987. OCLC844200702.