He was born into a Jewish family in Skřečoň, a village in Silesia, an historically much-disputed part of Czechoslovakia, now in the Czech Republic.
He died in the Bay Area of San Francisco, leaving a wife, Jean (Szeina Blacharowicz) and two children, Debora Seys and Tom Bittner.
His initial interests in sociology related to phenomenology and ethnomethodology, which led to him undertaking with Donald Cressey a Ph.D. in the University of California at Los Angeles.
While there he held the Harry Coplan Professorship in the Social Sciences, he was chair of the sociology department and supervised the dissertation of Nancy J.
The Bittner Award is in honor of Egon Bittner and is presented by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) to chief executive officers in recognition of their distinguished service in law enforcement and their leadership of an agency accredited by CALEA for fifteen continuous years.