Robert F. Durkin

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Major General Robert Francis Durkin of the United States Air Force served as Director of the Defense Mapping Agency from October 1987 to June 1990. In that role, he restructured the agency’s training and helped modernize how it produces and uses geospatial information.

Durkin was born February 13, 1936, in Youngstown, Ohio, and graduated from Youngstown South High School in 1954. He earned a Bachelor of Science in military science from the United States Military Academy in 1958 and a Master of Science in engineering management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1966. He completed Armed Forces Staff College in 1971, the Air War College in 1978, and the Institute for Higher Defense Studies in 1983.

After earning his pilot wings in 1959, Durkin trained for F-86L interceptors and B-52 bombers and served as a B-52 co-pilot at Dow Air Force Base, then as an aircraft commander at Homestead Air Force Base. He later trained in C-130 operations and served in Taiwan as an aircraft commander. He also worked in research and development at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Eglin Air Force Base, and held staff roles in Washington, D.C., including work with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and later with the Nuclear Division.

Durkin held command positions at Ellsworth Air Force Base and Minot Air Force Base, and he served in key planning and operations roles at Air Force headquarters. He became deputy director for foreign intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency in 1986 before taking the DMA director post.

As a pilot, Durkin logged more than 4,600 flying hours, including 97 combat missions in Southeast Asia. He retired from the Air Force on July 1, 1990. Durkin died on November 14, 2004, in Orlando, Florida, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on January 3, 2005.

His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Combat Readiness Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.