The entire staff of the University of Oklahoma Press mourns the loss of Kirk Bjornsgaard, acquisitions editor for regional studies. He is survived by his wife, Noma Krasney, Ph.D., and two children, Kelsey and Jordan.

Kirk was a mentor to authors, an inspiration to colleagues, and a friend to all.

“Kirk was a terrific addition to our staff and became invaluable to us as an acquisitions editor,” said Chuck Rankin, editor-in-chief of the University of Oklahoma Press. “Kirk handled all sorts of projects, from straightforward histories and novels to highly complex historical atlases and the second edition of our Oklahoma history textbook. He also brought award-winning authors to the University of Oklahoma Press, not least among them Rilla Askew. But it was Kirk’s dependability and kindness to all that endeared him to us most.”

Kirk was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. After working for several Philadelphia-area newspapers, he went to work for Sunoco, Inc., as a public relations manager. He transferred to Tulsa with Sunoco in 1984.

Prior to joining the University of Oklahoma Press, Kirk was an editor with PennWell Publishing in Tulsa, where he was responsible for acquiring new titles and, in several cases, contributed to anthologies and coauthored books, including Electric Power Generation: A Nontechnical Guide.

Kirk also worked as a freelance writer, editor, and radio news reporter and anchor. He was published in several magazines in the Tulsa area and worked for corporations and advertising agencies on a contract basis. He scripted a number of videos for an independent production company and worked by assignment for NewsTalk740 KRMG, Oklahoma’s leading news-talk station. At KRMG he anchored Sunday morning newscasts and for seven years covered the Tulsa city council.

In addition to being a successful editor and journalist, Kirk was an accomplished fiction writer. His short story, “Tin Soldiers,” won the Jerry Jazz Musician New Short Fiction Award in 2003. Kirk’s recently released novel, Confessions of a Former Rock Queen (available from Amazon.com or through 4RV Publishing) draws on his own experience as a rock-and-roll drummer and illuminates the life and times of a generation that came of age in the tumultuous 1960s.

Kirk served the literary community with distinction as vice president of the Oklahoma Center for the Book’s board of directors. As an editor and an author, books were Kirk’s passion.

All of us at the Press will miss Kirk—his experience, dedication, thoughtfulness, kindheartedness, and quick wit—dearly.