George Gerbner was born in Hungary, emigrated to the United States in 1939, and became a U.S. citizen. He earned a BA degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley in 1942 and worked as a journalist at the San Francisco Chronicle until enlisting in the Army during World War II.

After the war, he earned an MA in 1951 and his PhD in 1955 from the University of Southern California. In 1955, his dissertation, “Toward a General Theory of Communication,” was named “Best Dissertation.” He joined the faculty at the Institute for Communication Research at the University of Illinois in 1956.

Dr. Gerbner became professor of communication and dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. He was ...