Schroth, Raymond A. (Raymond Augustine), 1933-2020

Raymond A. Schroth was born on November 8, 1933 in Trenton, New Jersey to Raymond and Mildred (Murphy) Schroth. His father was a journalist and his mother was a school teacher. In 1955, Schroth received a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University in New York City. Schroth served as an officer in the US Army with an anti-aircraft battalion in West Germany. In 1957, he joined the Society of Jesus and was ordained as a priest a decade later in 1967. Schroth earned a bachelor of sacred theology degree from Woodstock College, Maryland in 1968, and a PhD in American thought and culture from George Washington University, Washington, DC in 1971.

In 1969, Schroth joined Fordham University as an associate professor, teaching journalism in the communications department. In 1979, he became academic dean at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri. Schroth was a member of the Loyal Mass Communications faculty at Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Schroth returned to Fordham in 1996, where he served as assistant dean at Rose Hill until 1999.

Schroth’s journalistic contributions include articles and reviews on politics, religion, and literature in Commonweal, America, the National Catholic Reporter, the Los Angeles Times, New York Newsday, and The Boston Globe, among others. He reported from 14 countries, including Syria and Russia, and covered significant domestic events in the United States such as the Detroit riots and the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Schroth died on July 1, 2020 in the Bronx, New York City.