Robert L. Bireley (July 26, 1933 – March 14, 2018) was an American Jesuit historian of Counter-Reformation Central Europe.
[1] He joined the Jesuits in 1951, making his final vows in 1974.
He took degrees in Latin and History from Loyola University Chicago, in Philosophy from West Baden College in Indiana, and in Theology from Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt am Main.
[2] He served as president of the American Catholic Historical Association (2008) and on the editorial boards of the Catholic Historical Review (1979–85) and Renaissance Quarterly (2000-3).
[3] He died on March 14, 2018, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, aged 84.