Encyclopedia · Biography
Anne Gorsuch Burford
American lawyer, state legislator and fourth EPA administrator
Personal details
- Name
- Anne McGill Gorsuch Burford
- Born
- April 21, 1942 · Casper, Wyoming
- Died
- July 18, 2004 · Aurora, Colorado
- Education
- University of Colorado Boulder, B.A.; University of Colorado School of Law, LL.B. (1964)
- Spouses
- David Gorsuch; later Robert Burford (both marriages ended in divorce)
- Children
- Three, including Neil Gorsuch
- Political affiliation
- Republican
- Offices
- Colorado House of Representatives (1976–1980); EPA administrator (May 20, 1981–March 9, 1983)
Anne McGill Gorsuch Burford (1942–2004) was an American lawyer and Republican politician who served in the Colorado House of Representatives and became the first woman to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under President Ronald Reagan.
Education, family and early law career
Born in Casper, Wyoming, Burford studied political science at the University of Colorado, completed law school there in 1964, and received a Fulbright scholarship to India. She held prosecutorial, administrative and corporate legal positions. Her three children from her marriage to lawyer David Gorsuch included future Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch.
Colorado politics and Reagan transition
Elected to the Colorado House in 1976, she worked on the judiciary, state affairs and legislative legal-service committees. She was a corporate attorney for Mountain Bell and participated in Reagan’s 1980 presidential transition. Reagan nominated her to head EPA in February 1981.
Environmental Protection Agency
The Senate confirmed Gorsuch in May 1981, and Vice President George H. W. Bush administered her oath on May 20. She sought regulatory and spending reductions. Congressional investigations and disputes over EPA Superfund records led to contempt proceedings and her resignation in March 1983. The existence of those proceedings does not constitute a criminal conviction.
Later career and legacy
After leaving EPA, Burford returned to law practice in Colorado, with work involving child advocacy. She married and later divorced Robert Burford, who had headed the Bureau of Land Management. She died in 2004. Her son Neil Gorsuch was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017, years after her death.
References
Research compiled through November 12, 2026. Sources and historical roles are dated where known.