Awards & Distinctions
Loyola Medal
Notable Concordian
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John E. O’Brien
BA 45
Teacher, author, speaker and administrator.
Founder of Concordia’s renowned Department of Communication Studies and a Jesuit priest, the distinguished Professor Emeritus Fr. John (Jack) E. O’Brien, S.J., has been selected to receive the 2011 Loyola Medal, one of the highest honours awarded by Concordia University.
O’Brien is an accomplished teacher, author, speaker and administrator. After graduation from Loyola College in 1945, he joined the Society of Jesus, where he was ordained in 1957, and earned a doctorate in Communication from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1964.
Father O’Brien pictured in the foreground of Communication Arts ad in Time magazine, 1967. | Photo courtesy of Concordia University Archives
He returned to his alma mater, where he founded Canada’s first department of Communication Studies in 1965, then known as Communication Arts at Loyola College.
O’Brien’s pioneering vision and passion for the study and application of media, combined with his training as a Jesuit priest, led him down an unusual career path for a clergyman who had taken a vow of poverty.
While a student at USC, O’Brien was elected president of Alpha Epsilon Rho, known today as the National Broadcasting Society, an American association for broadcast and media students.
For Montreal’s Expo 67 world fair, he chaired the Christian Pavilion programming committee. In 1983, his communications expertise took him to Rome where, as Secretary for Social Communication to the Father General of the Jesuits, he helped to reshape the training of young Jesuits worldwide.
Reverend John (Jack) E. O’Brien, professor emeritus and founder of Concordia’s Department of Communication Studies, passed away on Nov, 07, 2015. He was 91.
Read more about Jack O’Brien
Father O’Brien receives the Loyola Medal, Fall 2011.
Father O’Brien (seated, at right), at the Department of Communication Studies 50th anniversary celebration on Loyola Campus, September 26, 2015 | Photo: Luke Quin
