In memoriam: Esteban López-Escobar (1941–2025)

Esteban López-Escobar, WAPOR President in 2005-2006 and a founding member of the Advisory Board of Church, Communication & Culture, passed away on March 11 at the age of 83. Professor López-Escobar was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1941, but soon after his family moved to Asturias, where he grew up. In 1972, he joined the faculty of the School of Communication at the University of Navarra as a professor of Communication Theory. He served as the first director of the Department of Public Communication at the School and was a pioneer in integrating various fields, including Deontology, Political Institutions, International Relations, Political Communication, International Communication, and Information Law.

Professor López-Escobar made significant contributions to teaching and research in the field of Public Opinion. He was an expert in the study of Agenda Setting theory that he helped to develop with one of its co-founders, Maxwell McCombs—a recently-deceased member of our Advisory Board—and in the works of Marshall McLuhan. He was Trustee of the International Institute of Communications, London, and served as a board-member of the Strategic Council of the European Institute for the Media, Manchester and Düsseldorf. He was also a fellow at the Shorenstein Center of Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, and served as president of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) from 2005 to 2006. His most recent publication was Charles H. Cooley: Foundations for a Communicative Theory of the Social (2022).

Esteban was a distinguished academic but above all, a man of deep faith, joyful and close to people, much loved and appreciated by colleagues, students, and friends.

Source: (2025). In memoriam: Esteban López-Escobar (1941–2025). Church, Communication and Culture, 10(1), 187–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/23753234.2025.2482700