Dr. George P. Evans, of 33 Berva Drive, Bradford, a noted journalism educator and communication specialist, died Monday, June 12, 2023, in Erie.
He was 79.
He was born on Dec. 23, 1943, in South Plainfield, N.J. He is survived by his wife, Susan Irene (nee Cavalline), of Bradford. He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Anne Evans, of South Plainfield, and a brother, Dennis, of Princeton, N.J. Besides his Bradford home, Dr. Evans and his wife enjoyed their second home at 218 Stockton Ridge, at Foxmoor, in Cranberry Township.
During the past decade he devoted most of this time and support to the Evans- Krivak Gynecological Cancer Research and Education Fund, which he and his wife, an ovarian cancer survivor, endowed to raise funds for ovarian cancer, which remains one of the least funded and understood among cancers.
He was a cum laude graduate of Rider University in 1965, where he served as editor of the campus newspaper in his senior year and was a member of Phi Sigma Epsilon fraternity and recipient of the Frederick Ferris Journalism Scholars Award.
He earned a master’s degree in mass communication from The Ohio University, in 1966, and went on to earn a Ph.D., with distinction, from Syracuse University, in 1975, in mass communication and political science.
He began his career as a news reporter for the Gannett-owned Courier-News in Plainfield, and later as a copy editor for the Home News in New Brunswick.
Dr. Evans was a journalism professor at St. Bonaventure University for 29 years, hired as one of the youngest instructors at the college in 1966. He retired from that position in 1995 to enter into private practice as proprietor of Communication Services.
While at St. Bonaventure, Dr. Evans enjoyed an active career which included chairmanship of the mass communication department in 1983-85 and 1993-95, chairmanship of the annual Press Day, adviser of the award-winning campus newspaper, The Bona Venture, and adviser of the campus yearbook, The Bonadieu. He was also founder of the school’s annual Sports Symposium, a member of the Honors Council, and developer and director of the renowned Dow Jones Newspaper Fund program, among many other positions.
He was known for his behind-the-scenes initiatives in bringing about the designation of the journalism department as full-fledged school of mass communication and journalism, which at the time emphasized writing and reporting instruction which he and Dr. Russell Jandoli, his professional mentor, revered as the pillar of the department’s educational quality. He succeeded Jandoli as department chair 1983-85.
In 1989, he was cited as the National Faculty Adviser of the year by the National Council of College Publications Advisers. He was also named a Fellow of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in 1989. Earlier, in 1987, Poynter presented him with the National Teaching Award citing his achievements in higher education and media advising. In 1988, he was named a Fellow of the American Press Institute’s USA Today journalism studies program.
In 2005 he was named senior project manager for Northeast Division of Finnegan & Company, of Little Rock, Ark., a leading national grant and procurement consulting firm. He was a research analytical consultant for Carr Marketing Communications of Amherst, N.Y., a position which he held until his death.
Locally, Dr. Evans spoke before a number of civic groups, and was the keynote speaker for the 1992 commencement at Bradford Area High School.
He was a full-time consultant for the Bradford Area School District, from 1998-2002, handling competitive grant applications and public relations. He was responsible for the founding of the Bradford Public Schools Foundation, of which he continued to serve as executive secretary until his death, and the author of the district’s first alumni directory.
In Bradford, Dr. Evans was a member of St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic Church and a member in 2010, then president of its Parish Council from 2014-2016, a director and then Board president of Evergreen Elm since 1985 and Board president in 2005- 2007, a member of the Salvation Advisory Board, a director, president (2004-05) and Board chairman (2005-06) of the Bradford Rotary Club, a past Rotary secretary, founder and executive secretary of the Bradford Rotary Foundation, founder and executive secretary of the Bradford Public Schools Foundation, recipient three times of Rotary’s highest award, the Paul Harris Fellow, Assistant Rotary District 7280 Governor 2011- 2017, and a member of the District’s Nominating and Public Relations committees, and a member of the Bradford Club. After 20 years as a Bradford Rotarian, he then joined the Cranberry Township Sunrise Rotary Club in 2017. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Keystone State Music Theater Association in Cranberry Township.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Harriett B. Wick Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford with the Rev. John Jacquel officiating. Friends will be received from noon to 1 p.m. at the chapel.
Mascho Funeral Home Inc. is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences will be accepted at www.maschofuneral.com
In lieu of flowers, contributions to the Evans-Cavalline Scholarship fund at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford or to the Evans-Krivak Gynecologic Cancer Research and Education Fund under the auspices of The Pittsburgh Foundation. As a result of contributions to the scholarship and other Pitt endeavors, Dr. Evans and his wife Susan were inducted into the 1787 Society and the Brackenridge Society of the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland.
