William Byron, S.J.
Professor of Business and Society at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
The Reverend William J. Byron, S.J., is University Professor of Business and Society at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He was president of St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia from 2006 to 2008. He took a leave from his position as research professor at the Sellinger School of Business and Management, Loyola College in Maryland to serve as interim president of Loyola University New Orleans in academic year 2003-04. From August, 2000 until June, 2003, he was pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, DC. From 1992 to 2000, he taught "Social Responsibilities of Business" in the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, where he held an appointment as Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Ethics and served as rector of the Georgetown Jesuit Community. From 1982-1992, he was president of The Catholic University of America. Prior assignments include service as president of the University of Scranton (1975-82), dean of arts and sciences at Loyola University of New Orleans (1973-75), and various teaching positions in his field of economics and social ethics.
Father Byron writes a syndicated bi-weekly column (“Looking Around”) for Catholic News Service Syndicate. He is the author of Toward Stewardship (Paulist, 1975); Quadrangle Considerations [Loyola, 1989 (winner of the Catholic Press Association's 1990 Best Book Award in Education)]; Take Your Diploma and Run! (Paulist, 1992); Finding Work without Losing Heart (Adams, 1995); The 365 Days of Christmas (Paulist, 1996); Answers from Within: Spiritual Guidelines for Managing Setbacks in Work and Life (Macmillan, 1998); Jesuit Saturdays: Sharing the Ignatian Spirit with Lay Colleagues and Friends (Loyola, 2000; revised edition, 2008); A Book of Quiet Prayer (Paulist, 2006); The Power of Principles: Ethics in the New Corporate Culture (Orbis, 2006); Words at the Wedding (Paulist, 2007); Individuarian Observations: Essays in Catholic Social Reflection (University of Scranton Press, 2007); Praying with and for Others (Paulist, 2008); Faith-Based Reflections on American Life (Paulist 2010); Next Generation Leadership (U. of Scranton Press, 2010); One Faith, Many Faithful: Short Takes on Contemporary Catholic Concerns (Paulist 2012), and The Word Received (2012) and The
Word Proclaimed (2013) homilies for Sundays in Years C and A (Paulist Press); he edited The Causes of World Hunger (Paulist, 1982) and Take Courage: Psalms of Support and Encouragement (Sheed & Ward, 1995).
He is a past trustee of Georgetown University, the University of San Francisco, and Loyola University of Chicago. Current directorships include Villanova University’s Center for the Study of Church Management, Gesu School, Loyola Foundation, and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. He was a founding director and past chairman of Bread for the World. He is a former member of the Board of Commissioners of the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and was a member of the original Board of the Corporation for National Service. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Maryland, two theology degrees from Woodstock College, a bachelor's in philosophy and master's in economics from Saint Louis University, and a certificate in educational management from Harvard. He was the 1999 recipient of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities' Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for his contributions over the years to the advancement of Catholic higher education. In that same year he received the Council of Independent Colleges’ Academic Leadership Award. He holds 30 honorary degrees.
A native of Pittsburgh, Father Byron grew up in Philadelphia, where he attended St. Joseph's Preparatory School. After service in the army's 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment in 1945-46, he attended Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia for three years before entering the Jesuit order in 1950. He was ordained a priest in 1961. [Address: 261 City Ave., Merion Station PA. 19066-1835; phone: 610-660-1424; e-mail: [email protected]; cell: 443-691-5688.]