Cornelius Franklin Burk was an engineer and civil servant. Born in Chicago, Cornelius Franklin Burk came to Canada in 1920 and was granted Canadian citizenship in 1934. He obtained a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. from the University of Toronto before working as a draftsman and test engineer at Sheldon's Ltd. in Galt in 1929. He later spent several years working in Talara, Peru as an employee of International Petrolium Ltd. Burk served as the Director of development at the University of Waterloo from 1959 to 1961 before becoming secretary-manager of the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce. He succeeded Clifford N. Hall in the role, who had held the position from it's creation in 1952 until 1961.