Born in New York City, Bourgholtzer attended Indiana University Bloomington, where he majored in government and minored in economics and journalism.
[2] Bourgholtzer returned to New York after graduation and wrote comic book scripts until joining the Wall Street Journal as a reporter in 1943.
[2][4] From the early 1950s through the 1960s, Bourgholtzer worked overseas for NBC News and served as bureau chief in Paris, Bonn, Vienna, Moscow, and Yemen.
[2] In 1965, Bourgholtzer received an Overseas Press Club Award for "best TV reporting from abroad" that recognized his 1964 coverage of the war in Yemen for NBC.
[5] When announcing Bourgholtzer's death in 2010, NBC's Brian Williams called him "a renaissance man, elegant but down to earth, an exceptional reporter.