David L. Boren, who served as an Oklahoma legislator, governor, U.S. senator and finally as president of the University of Oklahoma, died Thursday, Feb. 20, according to a family spokesman.

Boren’s death followed declining health from long-time diabetes complications, attorney Bob Burke told the Associated Press. He was 83.

Born April 21, 1941, Boren’s career spanned five decades after graduating from Yale University and earning a master’s degree at Oxford College.

Hailing from Seminole as the son of Congressman Lyle Boren, David Boren began his lengthy political career in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1967. During his four terms as a state representative, Boren became a captain in the Oklahoma Army National Guard, earned a law degree from the University of Oklahoma and taught at Oklahoma Baptist University.

In 1974, he was elected governor of Oklahoma, ousting incumbent Gov. David Hall, fellow Democrat Clem McSpadden and Jim Inhofe, the Republican candidate.

At 33 years old, he became the youngest governor in the nation, campaigning around the state with a trademark broom to “sweep out the old guard.” Nine days after Boren succeeded him in office, Hall was indicted on bribery and extortion charges. He was eventually convicted.

As governor, Boren signed legislation reducing the state income tax, and he reorganized parts of the executive branch, pushed corrections reform in response to 1972 prison riots and substantially cut state agencies, commissions and boards. He promoted deregulation of gasoline prices in the mid-1970s.

In 1978, Boren successfully ran for an open U.S. Senate position. Hounded by homophobically couched accusations of his alleged relationships with staff members, interns and students while governor, Boren called a press conference the day after he won the Democratic Party nomination in a runoff to swear on a white Bible that he had never engaged in homosexuality or bisexuality.

“I further swear that I have never engaged in any homosexual or bisexual activities, nor do I approve of or condone them,” Boren said at the press conference, according to the Associated Press.

During his three terms in the U.S. Senate, Boren became the longest-serving chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He created the Boren Awards, a set of scholarships and fellowships bearing his name within the National Security Education Program. Throughout his career, Boren saw a bevy of things named for him, including roads around the state, the Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine, and dozens of items at the University of Oklahoma. In 1985, he aided in the establishment of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, which supports public school districts in the state.

Boren is survived by his wife of 47 years, former Pontotoc County Special District Judge Molly Shi Boren, and two children: Carrie Headington, an Episcopalian evangelist and apologist, and Dan Boren, a former Oklahoma legislator and U.S. congressman.

“My father loved the people of Oklahoma. He saw public service as a noble calling and dedicated his life to it. He was driven by a deep desire to improve the lives of others and build a better future for our state, nation, and university,” Dan Boren said. “The countless heartwarming stories I hear almost daily from people across this state who he helped are reminders of his remarkable life. We shall cherish the memory of his service and remarkable life.”

While Boren drew praise from many as a conservative Democrat in the U.S. Senate, he aggravated others by voting against funding for AIDS research, a fact cited in combination with his confirmation vote for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his 1978 Bible swearing to identify him as the anonymous U.S. senator accused of sexual harassment by a male staffer in Michael Signorelli’s 1993 book Queer in America: Sex, the Media and the Closets of Power. In July 1993, the gay civil rights organization Queer Nation called a press conference outside Boren’s office to identify him as “the unnamed closeted homosexual senator who has engaged in same-sex sexual harassment of his gay staffers” in Signorelli’s book.

In 1994, Boren resigned from the U.S. Senate to become the 13th president of the University of Oklahoma, a position he held until his retirement in June 2018. During his tenure, he prioritized increasing contributions to the university, reportedly growing the donor base from about 17,000 to more than 191,500. However, shortly after Boren departed OU, his sterling public reputation at the university became marred amid controversies related to the university’s murky finances and OU’s misreporting of donor data to U.S. News & World Report during the decades of his tenure.

Simultaneously, allegations emerged that Boren had engaged in serial sexual misconduct involving male students and university employees, with OU’s Office of Institutional Equity ultimately finding that Boren’s actions constituted a “hostile working environment” for at least one employee. OU hired the international law firm Jones Day to investigate first the donor data misreporting and second the sexual misconduct allegations against Boren. While the university spent more than $1.5 million on the investigations, the two Jones Day reports have not been made public. (NonDoc remains in litigation with the university over its refusal to release the reports under the Oklahoma Open Records Act.)

Boren was never charged following a criminal investigation, but he did resign his OU professorship as the controversy continued in June 2019, when the university he helped elevate unceremoniously severed ties with its second-longest serving president. Ultimately, an excerpt of the second Jones Day report was released to a public accuser of Boren, whose allegations were deemed “generally credible” by the law firm, which noted “similar” sexual misconduct accusations made by a half-dozen people.

Near the end of his career and after his retirement, Boren received regular criticism from his presidential successor, Jim Gallogly, and others for leaving the university around $1 billion in debt and for misreporting the donor data figures to U.S. News & World Report. Under Boren, more than $2 billion was spent on construction projects across OU’s three campuses.

Living on his estate in Newcastle, David Boren remained in central Oklahoma until his death, but he was rarely seen in public after cutting ties with OU. He is memorialized on the campus with a statue, dorm hall and the OU College of International Studies bearing his name.

“I am saddened by the news. He and I have been friends since I came to Oklahoma. He has been a caring and supportive friend to me and countless others,” said George Henderson, the University of Oklahoma’s third Black professor and the first Black man to buy a home in Norman. “His love for the University of Oklahoma has been unmatched. His death will leave a hole in my heart — forever.”

During his time in the U.S. Senate, Boren employed a cadre of precocious aides who have achieved their own prominence: OU President Joe Harroz, State Regents for Higher Education Chancellor Sean Burrage and Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

“David Boren’s contributions to Oklahoma higher education, our state, and our nation are immeasurable,” Burrage said in a statement. “As a statesman, lifelong public servant, and president of the University of Oklahoma for more than 20 years, his leadership, vision, and deep understanding of the value of education for every Oklahoman are widely recognized. My thoughts remain with the Boren family in this difficult time.”

Harroz also released a statement Thursday.

“Few individuals have so wholeheartedly dedicated their careers to serving others as President Boren, who was driven by a bold vision to create a better, stronger future,” Harroz said. “He was guided by a steadfast philosophy of serving the greater good, as well as an enduring belief in the transformative power of education.”

Boren becomes the second former Oklahoma House member from Seminole to die in 2025, following the passing of former Rep. Ryan Kiesel in late January.