Dr. Emmert F. Bittinger ’45, Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, who taught sociology and anthropology at Bridgewater College for 25 years, died on May 12, 2025. He was 99.
Born in Jordan Run, W.Va., to Foster M. Bittinger 1927 and Esther Bittinger, he earned a B.A. from Bridgewater College in 1945, an M.Th. from Bethany Theological Seminary in 1948 and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1951 and 1964, respectively. An ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren, Bittinger pastored seven churches in West Virginia and Maryland.
He taught at Bridgewater from 1963 until his retirement in 1988, serving as chair of the Department of Sociology from 1986-1988. Passionate about church history and genealogy, Bittinger wrote books including Heritage and Promise: Perspectives on the Church of the Brethren and Alleghany Passage: Churches and Families of the West Marva District. He also edited the six-volume Unionists and the Civil War Experience in the Shenandoah Valley.
The Virginia Sociological Association recognized Bittinger as Outstanding Scholar of the Year in 1999. In 2017 he received the Ripples Society Medal from the College.
He is survived by his wife of 77 years, Esther Landis Bittinger ’48, and their three daughters, Lorraine Bittinger Lineweaver ’71, Mildred Arnett and Marion Bittinger.
12/1/25
