Michael K. Burns

Avid globetrotter and longtime Baltimore Sun journalist Michael K. Burns died February 22, 2026. He resided in Phoenix, Baltimore County, for many years.

In various positions from reporter to columnist to foreign correspondent, Burns worked for The Baltimore Sun for 35 years, retiring in 2004 as an editorial writer.

As a young newsman in 1965, he joined friends intending to drive jeeps around the world. The journey from Europe to Asia stalled in Thailand and Burns was hired by the Bangkok World, an English-language daily, becoming assistant editor. In 1968 he was drawn to the Vietnam war and wrote for various U.S. publications as a free-lance correspondent, based in Saigon but traveling throughout South Vietnam.

Burns returned to the United States a year later and joined The Sun staff. His career included stints as environmental writer, columnist, counties reporter, and copy editor. While the consumer affairs reporter, his Buyer's Baedeker column won national awards.

He was Bonn (Germany) bureau chief from 1976-1980, covering Central Europe, and also spent much time in Iran covering the fall of the shah and rise of the Islamic republic. He also covered the 1982 Falklands Islands War in South America.

He received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to study at Stanford University in 1980-81. Previously, he won an Inter-American Press Association scholarship to the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he studied economics and law in 1970-71. He also received fellowships for environmental studies at the Marine Biological Laboratory (2001) and at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (2003), both in Massachusetts.

In retirement, Burns traveled the globe and visited all seven continents. Wildlife photography adventures were his favorites. Antarctica and Madagascar were particularly memorable experiences. He looked back on his childhood and wrote, “Unlike many people who claim to have an epiphany about the essence of nature, I seemed to simply accept that it was powerful and compelling.”

In Maryland, he was a longtime board member of the Oregon Ridge Nature Center Council and a two-time president. He was a former president of the University of Michigan Baltimore alumni club and a former officer of White Oak School PTA. He was an original panelist and frequent participant on the WMPT-TV news discussion program "Maryland Newsrap" in the 1970s.

Burns was born in Nashville, Tenn., attended public schools in Ypsilanti, Mich., and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1962 with a B.A. in political science. After serving in the Army, he worked on the Decatur (Ill.) Herald and Review newspaper until 1965, when he embarked on the global expedition.

He married Margaret A. Thresher, of Churchville, in 1984. They have four daughters.

His hobbies included stamp collecting, foreign languages, and sports car racing with the Chesapeake Corvette Club. Birding was an activity shared with his wife and children. Wine appreciation was an interest that he and his wife enjoyed. They visited France yearly for extensive wine tastings and collected an ample cel1ar of Bordeaux. Burns was also a Diplomate of the German Wine Academy.

Among his organization memberships were the American Philatelic Society, American Legion, Audubon Society, Sigma Delta Chi journalism society, and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. His honoraries included Pi Sigma Alpha and Phi Eta Sigma.

Burns is survived by his widow Margaret; daughters Katherine M. Burns and Emily A. Burns, both of Phoenix, Eleanor Jean Conway and her husband, Joseph, of New Market, and Anna C. Burns, of Charlotte, N.C.; and granddaughters Madison J. Conway and Emma M. Conway of New Market.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the University of Michigan, Clements Library Support Fund, 909 South University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1190.

A family celebration of life will take place on the banks of the La Gironde River in Bordeaux, France this summer. Interment will follow at Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland, Oklahoma.

The picture above was taken at The Pantanal in Brazil.