Bunzel, Joseph H.

Sociologist and researcher into the subject of gerontology, particularly gerontophobia.

Biographical note: Austrian emigre sociologist.

Joseph H. Bunzel was a sociologist from Graz, Austria, who immigrated to the United States in 1940; he held a variety of positions in New York and Pittsburgh, taught at the State University College at Buffalo, State University of New York, among other institutions.

Joseph Hans Bunzel was born in Graz, Austria, September 20, 1907. He received a J.D. in Social Science from the University of Vienna in 1932 and a Diplomate in Business Administration in 1933. he also attended medical school in Vienna and studied in a number of other universities: University of Dijon, psychology, 1932; Sorbonne, sociology, 1932; Johns Hopkins University, sociology and history of medicine, 1940-1942; University of Pittsburgh, psychology, tests and measurements, 1949-1950. In 1938 he married Gertrude Godwyn Bunzel and left Austria; in 1945 he became a United States citizen.

Bunzel's career included research, teaching, and clinical positions. His work in sociology spanned his entire career. He was Coordinator and Director of the Curriculum Study, Colleges of Western North Carolina (1941-1942); in housing and health in the Baltimore City Health Department (1942-1943), Pittsburgh Housing Association and Allegheny Board of Assistance (1943-1946 and 1950-1957), National Association of Housing Officials and Chicago Real Estate Corporation (1948-1949) and the New York City Board of Guardians (1951). It was as Director of Research for the New York City Mayor's Advisory Committee for the Aged that Bunzel began to focus his research interest on aging. During his tenure with this committee research was conducted on several projects simultaneously. From 1956-1967 Bunzel was a professor of social science at the College of William and Mary, Virginia Union University, the University of North Dakota, and St. John's University in Minnesota. In 1965 he worked on a research planning project in the geriatric ward of Fergus Falls State Hospital in Minnesota. From 1967 until his death, Bunzel was professor of sociology at the State University of New York College at Buffalo.

Throughout his years of teaching, Bunzel produced numerous papers on gerontology, particularly on the concept of gerontophobia. He was the main author of the report of the New York City Mayor's Committee for the Aged. He authored a column in Strait, the student newspaper of the State University of New York College at Buffalo, dealing primarily with gerontological concerns. In addition, he continued his research and publishing in sociology, doing much writing on Ludwig Gumplowicz.