Richard Burr, his wife Brooke and Vice President Dick Cheney during his swearing-in ceremony in 2005. (Getty)
North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and will be questioning former FBI Director James Comey, is married to Brooke Fauth Burr. The couple have two children and have been married since 1984.
The 61-year-old Burr has been in Congress since 1995, when he was first elected to represent the Tar Heel State’s Fifth Congressional District. In 2004, he won his first term as Senator. Like fellow North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, Burr is a Republican.
The Burrs are members of the Centenary United Methodist Church.
Here’s what you need to know about Burr’s wife and family.
1. Brooke Is a Real Estate Agent With Over 19 Years of Experience
Brooke Burr. (LRB Real Estate)
Brooke Burr is a real estate agent and partner of Leonard Ryden Burr Real Estate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She has over 19 years of experience and has a North Carolina real estate broker’s license, according to her bio. She’s a member of the National Associated of Realtors and North Carolina Association of Realtors.
Burr earned a B.A. in Economics Management from Salem College in 1979 and first worked at banks before becoming a real estate agent. In 2008, she earned the Triad Business Journal’s Women in Business Award.
2. She Helped Establish the North Carolina Triad affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
Richard Burr. (Getty)
Burr is involved in a variety of charitable causes and is on the board of directors for several charities. One of her major philanthropic achievements was helping establish an affiliate of the Susan G. Komen breast Cancer Foundation in North Carolina’s Triad region.
As the Triad Business Journal reported in 2002, Butt was inspired to help the cause because of her Graham and Boles Properties colleague Pam Versaggi, who battled breast cancer. Burr first convinced Versaggi to walk in the Washington D.C. Race for the Cure.
When they returned to North Carolina, the two friends decided to organize the first Triad race, with the help of Burr’s friends Susan King, a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley, and Cindy Christopher, a broker at Meridian Realty Group. The first race in 2000 raised $303,000 for the Komen Foundation.
The 2017 Triad Race For The Cure was in May.
3. Richard Burr Says His Wife Inspired His Decision Not to Retire in 2022
Back in July 2016, Senator Burr told North Carolina’s Republican convention delegates that he will not seek another term and plans to retire in 2022. It was an odd move, since Burr had yet to win his second term at that point. (He defeated Democrat Deborah Ross in November.)
“It’s real simple: I’m beginning to get old,” Burr told reporters, The Charlotte Observer reports. “I still look forward to getting back into the private sector before retirement even comes into the picture. I never envisioned retiring out of the Congress.”
The Senator also said that his wife inspired his decision.
“It helps me at home to announce it because I’ve got a bride who’s put up with it for 22 years, and she would like to know that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train,” Senator Burr explained.
Burr told the Observer in 2016 that their first date was at a beach. He was 21 years old.
4. Burr Has 2 Sons, Tyler & William
(Getty)
The Burrs have two adult sons, Richard Tyler Burr and William Fauth Burr.
As the Richmond Times Dispatch reported in August 2014, William married Virginia Tyler Hetzer at her family’s home in Hot Springs, Virginia. William’s father was his best man, with his brother Tyler as one of his groomsmen.
William has a degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and works for the Department of Defense in Quantico.
Tyler is a vice president at Brand Intelligence Group. In September 2016, McClatchy reported that Burr’s campaign reported renting office space from the company for $29,550 between 2011 and 2014.
McClatchy also reported that Mary Fauth, Brooke Burr’s sister-in-law, has been paid $88,724 since 2000 by the Senator’s political action committee for office space. Mary Fauth is married to Gerald W. Fauth III, a lobbyist in Alexandria, Virginia. Mary Fauth is also the treasurer of Senator Burr’s PAC, the Next Century Fund
5. Her Father, Gerald Fauth, Was a Korean War Veteran
Richard Burr. (Getty)
Burr’s father was Gerald Fauth Jr., who died in November 2010 at age 82, according to his obituary. He was a Korean War veteran, serving in the U.S. Navy. He graduated from Culver Military Academy and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, earning a B.S. and Masters in Civil Engineering.
After the war, he established a transportation firm in Washington D.C., then created his own firm, G.W. Fauth & Associates. He was married to Burr’s mother, Carole Barber Fauth, for 40 years.
Burr also has a sister, Kylie Fauth, according to her father’s obituary. In addition to Gerald W. Fauth III, Burr also had another brother, the late Geoffrey Kerr Fauth.