Edward Bernard Bunn SJ (March 15, 1896 – June 18, 1972) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became the president of Loyola College in Maryland and later of Georgetown University.

In 1938, he became the president of Loyola College, and his term was largely defined by a protracted legal dispute with Archbishop Michael Curley of Baltimore, involving high-ranking church prelates.

He attended Loyola College in Maryland, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1917,[1] and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

[6] A significant influence on his tenure was a controversy that arose between himself and the Archbishop of Baltimore, Michael Joseph Curley.

In 1937, an elderly woman, Frances Stuart, inherited a sum of money from her brother on the condition that she write her will to conform with his wishes,[7] which specified that certain Catholic institutions, including Loyola College and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, receive bequests.

In 1940, Stuart had become ill and had a lawyer that Bunn recommended draft a new will for her, which eliminated the bequests to the archdiocese and several other institutions while increasing those to Loyola and Woodstock College.

[9] During probate, two of her relatives filed a caveat, arguing that her second will was invalid because she was not mentally competent at the time of its creation.

Archbishop Curley then entered the lawsuit, arguing Bunn had used undue influence and fraud in causing Stuart to adopt the new will.

[12] The following month, Curley stated he would accept the offer on the condition that Bunn be removed as president of Loyola College.

The Apostolic Delegate to the United States informed Curley that the pope desired to have the dispute resolved out of court.

[16] Following the end of the dispute with the archbishop, Bunn turned his attention to the physical growth of Loyola College.

[5] After leaving Loyola, Bunn was made the regional director of colleges and universities for the Jesuits' Maryland Province, a position he held until 1952.

[1] During his regency, the dental school undertook an extensive renovation of its facilities and created children's and periodontal clinics and a diagnostic department.

[23] Presiding over an era of post-World War II expansion, Bunn sought to establish Georgetown as the preeminent Catholic university in the United States.

[24] His presidency was characterized by an overall centralization of the university's administration, which was previously carried out in large part by its constituent schools.

[26] Bunn also expanded and raised the caliber of the university's faculty, especially focusing on the natural sciences, philosophy, and theology.

Its three departments of government, economics, and history were placed under the administration of Georgetown College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

[28] In 1956, the School of Foreign Service was named in honor of Edmund A. Walsh, its founder, following his death that year.

[28] The business school suffered from poor academic quality in its early years[33] and developed a reputation among faculty and administrators as the destination of weak applicants who were unable to gain admission to Georgetown College or the SFS.

Bunn even considered closing the school in 1962, but, upon the recommendation of a committee,[34] retained it in the form of a fully independent unit of the university.

[38] Georgetown Law School also saw significant growth during Bunn's tenure, largely under the direction of its regent.

[39] By the late 1950s, the law school's facilities had become overcrowded, and overtures were made to purchase additional land to expand.