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Brother Bill Biernatzki died on April 8, 2017 at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after a period of declining health. He was 85 years old and a Jesuit for 59 years. Br. Biernatzki served as one of the founders of the Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture and as editor of Communication Research Trends for 19 years, from 1990-2009.
After service in the U.S. Army in Korea for several years, Br. Biernatzki entered the Society of Jesus in 1957. He later returned to Korea to teach for a period before earning a PhD in anthropology and sociology from Saint Louis University. Working as a social scientist, Br. Biernatzki then spent the initial part of his career teaching and doing research in Korea, at Sogang University in Seoul from 1968 to 1989, during a period a great growth as Sogang University changed from a small college into a major university.
In the 1970s, Br. Biernatzki responded to a request from Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J., the then Superior General of the Jesuits, to join in thinking about how the Society of Jesus could better serve the Church in the area of communication. At what the initial group called "a research facilitator unit" to promote communication research on behalf of the Church and of the Society of Jesus, he served as the initial research director in London in 1977 before returning...