Barbara Peterson

Barbara Elaine Peterson Burwell (born November 25, 1953) is a nationally recognized philanthropist and the President of the Burwell Family Foundation based in Bloomington, Minnesota.In 1976, Burwell became the first Miss Minnesota to be crowned Miss USA 1976.

Born in Edina, Minnesota, to former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Carl Donald Peterson and mother Gretchen Elaine Palen Peterson, Burwell grew up in Edina, Minnesota, with four brothers: Todd Douglas, Scott Jeffrey, Craig Donald, Mark Bradley; and one sister, Polly Suzanne.

Education

Burwell attended and graduated from Edina High School and earned a BA from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, with a triple major in political science, communications and American studies.

Burwell won the title of Miss Minnesota USA andrepresented her state in the 1976 Miss USA pageant broadcast live from Niagara Falls in May that year, winning the title and becoming the first Miss USA from Minnesota in the history of the pageant.

As the official representative of her country to the 1976 Miss Universe pageant in Hong Kong, Burwell would become the first Miss USA titleholder not to advance to the semifinal round of the Miss Universe pageant, which did not happen again until 1999.

In 1987, Burwell and sister Polly Peterson Bowles authored Becoming a Beauty Queen: the Complete Guide, based on their experience with pageants. Burwell was also a judge at the 1990 Miss USA pageant and resides in the Minneapolis metropolitan area.

Burwell was married to businessman Rodney P. Burwell, until his death in 2015, with whom she has three sons: Rodney Peter, Blake Palmer, and Michael Craig, and makes donations to educational and charitable institutions along with her husband through the Rodney and Barbara Burwell Family Foundation.