John Schulz, Former COM Dean, Dies at 85

John Schulz, a former dean of Boston University’s College of Communication, international news correspondent and decorated combat pilot, died last month in Virginia. He was 85.

“He demanded excellence from his students and didn’t hesitate to knock down weak ideas and flawed logic using an exacting, Socratic style,” said Michael Dodge, who was a graduate student under Schulz in London and now is a lecturer at COM’s Department of Mass Communication, Advertising and Public Relations.

“The experience motivated me to be prepared; to ask smart questions and anticipate counterpoints; and to explore complex issues of national and international affairs with depth, reason, and a conscious effort to restrain biases,” Dodge added. “His example still informs the way I think about the world all these years later.”

COM Associate Professor Edward Downes recalled when Schulz, then his department chair, asked him to launch a newsletter for the department called The COMmunicator. 

“The newsletter, including its name, reflected John’s view of communication management: broad and inclusive,” Downes said. “It represented the breadth of practice and scholarship our department’s colleges were experiencing, especially as they were responding, with John as chair, to the profound and rapid adoption and diffusion of new technologies landing on their laps.”

Schulz joined COM in 1995 as a professor of international communications, later serving as chair of the Department of Mass Communication, Advertising and Public Relations before being named dean of the college in 2003.

Prior to his time with the University, he edited Arms Control Today, the magazine of the nonprofit Arms Control Association, and reported from around the world as a correspondent for Voice of America.

Schulz also served more than eight years in the U.S. Air Force as a combat pilot and flight instructor during the Vietnam War, flying 276 combat missions and earning 22 combat decorations.

At the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, he earned his PhD in International Relations and National Security Studies.

He is survived by his wife Linda, daughters Molly Kelash (husband Paul) and Ariel, and grandchildren Lee, Emma, Nolan and Justine. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Media Matters. A service will be held at St. Charles Catholic Church, Cape Charles, VA, on Saturday, January 17 at 11 a.m.