Professor Sandra Petronio attended Suffolk Community College and was inspired by classes in philosophy and family sociology. Completing her associate's degree, she then completed the Interdisciplinary Social Science bachelor's degree at Stony Brook University, where she was mentored by sociologists Gladys Lang, Kurt Lang, and Norm Goodman. It was Gladys Lang who convinced Sandra to pursue a PhD. Sandra did so at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, completing a MA in Social Psychology to strengthen her PhD in Communication

Her professorial career in Departments of Communication (and later co-appointments in Schools of Medicine) included University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Arizona State University-Tempe, Wayne State University (Detroit), and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI, soon to be IU Indianapolis). She also taught courses at American University of Paris, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, North Dakota State University, and Kent State University.

She made hundreds of presentations across the US and the world. Sandra started formulating Communication Privacy Management Theory (first called Boundary Management) in the early 1980s.This led to partnering with numerous colleagues who utilized CPM for studies including HIV/AIDS disclosure, physicians and nurses bringing bad news to patients, how un-housed individuals create a private space, how and why individuals "scrub their blogs," and the injunction of "don't tell anyone but." Doing that work Sandra published five books.

Sandra is survived by daughter and her loving husband of 40 years, Charles Bantz, Chancellor Emeritus of IUPUI. She is also survived by her sister, sister-in-law and several children and grandchildren.

A celebration of life is being planned to be held in Indianapolis. In lieu of flowers please consider a gift to the Alzheimer's Association or the IUPUI Petronio Communication Privacy Management Dissertation Fellowship Award at the Indiana University Foundation, via a check to Indiana University Foundation, PO Box 6460, Indianapolis, IN 46206-6460 (please add Petronio Fellowship memorial to the memo line) or online: https://give.myiu.org/iupui/I380016056.html