Rolf T. Wigand, 76, passed away on September 25, 2020. He was born and grew up in Germany. After high school he held management internships with firms in Mannheim and Berlin, Germany. He earned a B.B.A. in Marketing and Advertising in 1970 and a M.A. in Mass Communication in 1972 from Texas Tech University. In 1975 he earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Organizational Communication. For 40 years Rolf enjoyed an active and highly productive career in academia. His first position, 1975, was an Assistant Professor of Communication at ASU; in 1983 he was Professor of Communication and Public Administration at ASU. From 1991-2002 he was a Professor of Information Studies at Syracuse University (SU), School of Information Studies and a Senior Research Fellow with the Maxwell School at SU. In 2002 he became the Maulden-Entergy Chair and Distinguished Professor of Information Science and Management at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock retiring in 2015. Since 2015 he was affiliated with the Emeritus College at ASU.

During his academic career he held numerous administrative positions as well as serving as a Visiting Professor at Universities located in Mexico City, Munich, Bayreuth, Manheim, Stuttgart, Helsinki, Sydney and Hong Kong. He consulted with a variety of national and international business organizations. Rolf's active research agenda yielded 21 books and over 500 articles, chapters and monographs. His research interests examined the intersection of newer information technologies and their impact on organizations and society. His research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the German National Science Foundation (DFG), the Volkswagen Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Berlin, the European Union, the International Science Council in Paris, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and other funding agencies.



Rolf held numerous editorial positions for several academic journals. He was a founding and charter member of the Association of Information Systems (AIS) for 25 years and a life-long member of the International Communication Association (ICA).

Rolf was preceded in death by a son. He is survived by his wife, Dianne, a brother and numerous cousins. In lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite charity in his name. (Source: ASU Foundation)