Vern Leroy Bullough (July 24, 1928 – June 21, 2006) was an American historian and sexologist. He was a distinguished professor emeritus at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, Faculty President at California State University, Northridge, a past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, past Dean of natural and social sciences at the Buffalo State College in Buffalo, New York, one of the founders of the American Association for the History of Nursing, and a member of the editorial board of Paidika: The Journal of Paedophilia.

Early life and career

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah to a Mormon family, Bullough earned his A.B. at the University of Utah in 1951. He then attended the University of Chicago, earning an A.M. in 1951 and a Ph.D in 1954, and was a university fellow during 1953-1954. In 1981 he received a B.S.N. from California State University, Long Beach. According to the university: He began teaching at Youngstown University, where he was an Assistant Professor of History and Social Science from 1954-1959. He then moved to California State University, Northridge in 1959, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1962, and to Professor in 1965. Later in his career he taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo and USC. In 1992 Bullough received a Distinguished Humanist Service Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), and served as co-Chairman of the IHEU (1995-1996). In 2003 he was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto. Today Bullough is remembered mainly as an eminent sexologist and medical historian, and a pioneer in the scientific study of alternative sexual behaviors.

Personal life and death

He was married in 1947 to Bonnie Bullough and had five children, the oldest of whom died in childhood in Egypt in 1967. After the death of Bonnie Bullough in 1996 he married Gwen Brewer. He died in Westlake Village in 2006.

Legacy

Bullough's archives reside at the University Library at California State University, Northridge, where an endowment in his name funds special lectures, scholarships, and collection development in sex and gender studies.

Published works