Charles R. Wright, professor emeritus of communication and sociology and longtime faculty member of the Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania, died on October 17. He was 90.

Dr. Wright was born in Pennsauken, New Jersey. He served in the U.S. Navy as an electronic technician from 1944-1946.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1949, a master’s degree in sociology in 1950 and a doctorate in sociology in 1954, all from Columbia University. He then worked as an instructor at Columbia for two years. In 1956, Dr. Wright became a professor of sociology at UCLA. During his time there, he wrote Mass Communication: A Sociological Perspective (1959), which presented a case for a functionalist approach to communication. He took leave from UCLA in 1967 to serve as program director in sociology and social psychology at the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Wright joined Penn in 1969 as professor of communication and sociology in the Annenberg School with a joint appointment in the department of sociology at SAS in 1969. He was associate dean for graduate studies at the Annenberg School from 1990-1991 and 1993-1996. Throughout his career, he chaired the committee on graduate studies for Annenberg School, the graduate group in communications for the University and the graduate group in sociology for the College of Arts and Sciences. He served as a member of the editorial board for Public Opinion Quarterly, Information and Behavior, International Encyclopedia of Communication, Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives, and The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly: Health and Society; and was an associate editor for Sociometry (now Social Psychology Quarterly), American Sociological Review, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Sociological Inquiry and Pacific Sociological Review. He joined the 25-Year Club in 1994 (Almanac October 11, 1994).

He was co-author of two large secondary analyses of national survey data exploring the impact of schooling, Education’s Lasting Influence on Values and The Enduring Effects of Education, as well as Applications of Methods of Evaluation: Four Studies of the Encampment for Citizenship, a study of the use of summer camps to enhance young people’s abilities and willingness to participate in democratic citizenship. He also served as associate editor of The American Sociological Review and was on the editorial board of The Public Opinion Quarterly (Almanac October 1969).

Dr. Wright retired and became professor emeritus of communication in 1996. That same year, he was reemployed beyond retirement at the Annenberg School, to teach one course per year. He continued in this role until age 89 and was honored for nearly 50 years of contributions to Annenberg at a reception in September 2016. 

He was pre-deceased by his wife of 51 years, Anne Marie (Krefft) in 2001.

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