Remembering the founder of Concordia’s marketing department, Dr. Bruce Mallen

Businessman and filmmaker passes away at 83

Mallen was a prominent figurehead in Concordia’s marketing and business administration departments. Photo Courtesy

Founder of Concordia's marketing program, Dr. Bruce Mallen, passed away on March 12 in Beverly Hills, CA. He was 83 years old.

Mallen was an undergraduate at Sir George Williams University, and later a professor and department head. He also founded the university’s MBA program, the largest graduate program in the university at the time, established other graduate programs like business administration and co-founded Concordia's PhD in business administration. 

In the merger between Sir George Williams and Loyola College which created Concordia University, Mallen played a key role. Even after his time as a professor, he remained involved at the university, serving on advisory boards and donating an annual scholarship for a student involved in motion picture entrepreneurship.

In 2005, he was appointed to the John Molson School of Business Advisory Board, and in 2012 he was appointed Advisor Board Emeritus. In 2008, he was appointed to the university's Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema's advisory board. In 2009, he donated an annual award in JMSB to be presented to a production student who excelled in cinema entrepreneurship.

On top of being an accomplished economics scholar, Mallen was also a film producer specializing in Canadian co-productions, and a Los Angeles real estate developer with a focus on the film industry. 

In 1978, Mallen moved to Los Angeles to merge his business expertise with his love of cinema. Over the course of a decade, he produced a handful of feature films and became regarded as a dynamic producer of Canadian motion pictures in Hollywood. 

After his retirement from becoming the dean of the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University, and after the receipt of numerous awards and honorary degrees, he returned to Los Angeles to pursue a final career of hands-on investment in early-stage ventures. He pursued his passions fiercely, until he was stricken by Alzheimer's disease several years ago.