Deanna Burger

Deanna Burger, Federal Attorney and Norman Business Owner, Dies at 87

Deanna Burger, an ambitious attorney who overcame gender bias to build a legal and business career in federal service, state leadership, and local entrepreneurship, died March 17, 2025, at St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon. Her children were by her side. She was 87 and had stubbornly battled neuroendocrine cancer since 2016.

Deanna was born September 20, 1937, in Blackwell, Oklahoma, to William "Bill" Burger and Avis Winkler Burger. Both sides of her family can trace their ancestry back to the sons and daughters of the American Revolution. The Winklers and the Burgers settled in Kay County and Blackwell in the 1890s. Grandfather, John Sheridan Burger, was a lawyer, district judge, and city attorney in both Blackwell and Braman. Grandpa Winkler was a dentist.

Deanna's father, Bill, served in WWII in France as a field medic and Staff Sergeant. After the war, he moved the family to Norman and attended the University of Oklahoma on the G.I. Bill. Avis supported the family as a graphic artist while Bill attended Pharmacy School. Post-war housing was scarce. They lived humbly in retired officer barracks on the former North Base Naval Air Station.

Deanna attended University High School. Remembered for her beauty and bright smile, she was a rigorous academic, but also spirited and popular. She was a National Merit Scholar, an officer of numerous clubs, and a cheerleader who also sang, danced, and played in the orchestra. In her 80s, with a lawyerly matter-of-fact cadence, she reminisced about climbing 150 feet up an open ladder to the top of the Lexington-at-Flood Street water tower. Deanna survived this daring feat and graduated with honors from Norman High School in 1955.

At OU, Deanna served as Alpha Delta Phi sorority president and remained active in many clubs. A favorite college memory was her selection to escort Eleanor Roosevelt during a 1958 visit to OU with former president Harry S. Truman. Inspired by her grandfather Burger, she entered OU's School of Law in 1959 and graduated in 1961. She led the OU chapter of Kappa Beta Pi and was known nationally for her participation in the American Law Student Association conventions.

In 1961, an Oklahoma City news article noted Deanna as "the only girl" at the Oklahoma Bar Association swearing-in ceremony. Despite her excellent academic credentials, no Oklahoma law firms would hire her because she was a woman. Undeterred, she joined the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., as its only female attorney at FTC headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue. She often corrected other's gender bias: "The men thought I was someone's secretary." She worked in antitrust and price-fixing enforcement, contributing to the FTC's landmark Cigarette Rules. She remained at the FTC until her first child's birth in 1969. Following her second child, the family relocated to New York, where Deanna joined the bar and continued her legal career in private practice.

In the late 1970s, Deanna became a civilian attorney for the Judge Advocate General at Tinker AFB and later at McClellan AFB in Sacramento, California. In the early 1980s, she continued her commitment to public service as Deputy and Acting Commissioner of the Oklahoma Securities Commission.

Leaving state government in the mid-1980s, she joined her 2nd husband in running his father's bicycle business for the next 18 years. She met "Jimmy" Miller in 1950 at the city pool and they had dated in high school. Both divorced, they reconnected in the late 1970s and married in 1984, staying married for 39 years until Jim's death in 2023.

Enacting values of forgiveness and acceptance, Deanna is remembered for carrying herself with quiet dignity when faced with the obstacles of circumstance. Influenced by her father, Deanna was renowned for her exceptional work ethic, moral integrity, and unwavering commitment to others. She consistently stood up for what she believed was right, even in the face of criticism or personal sacrifice. During her marriage to Jim, she confronted his alcoholism through Al-Anon, supporting his path to sobriety over twelve years. During this tumultuous period, she assumed responsibility for the family business, kept her household functioning, fought her first bout of cancer, sent three teenagers off to college, and filled the role of primary caregiver for Jim's aging parents. She would fight cancer two more times.

Deanna wrote privately that her "children are her greatest accomplishment." But Deanna also fostered a sense of home and belonging among her blended family. She was a perennial host of holiday gatherings, baby showers, and days at the lake. She expressed her desire to be an influence, sending handwritten weekly letters to her children and her step-grandchildren alike. Sometimes an even-handed criticism, sometimes an account of the day, but always with a comic strip clipped for lightness.

She is survived by her children, Ari Benderly and wife Heidi of San Francisco; Danielle Benderly and husband Ken of Portland; stepchildren Mitchell "Mark" Miller; Brent Clay Miller and wife Erika of Norman; Amy Barton Woodie and husband J.J. of Oklahoma City; and Annalisa Campbell and husband Bruce of Piedmont. Also surviving are her grandchildren: Alexandra, Isaac, Hannah-Ruth, Zane, and Mya; her niece, Carolyn Burger Small, and her husband, Derek; her nephew, John Burger; and her grand-niece and -nephew, Stephanie Ziglar and Heath Ziglar, and their families. She was preceded in death by her two husbands, parents, and her beloved brother, John Burger.

A private memorial for family and close friends was held for Deanna after her passing. Contributions in her memory may be made to Meals on Wheels America.