ORONO – The news that Stuart James Bullion, former chairman of the University of Maine journalism department, Vietnam veteran and teacher, died after a six-month battle with cancer sent a wave of sorrow over the campus.

“When I heard he was sick with liver cancer, I knew the prognosis was not good,” said Vietnam veteran Bob Whelan, who is a lecturer and associate chair of UMaine’s English department.

Bullion died Wednesday in his home in Oxford, Miss., where he had served as chair of the University of Mississippi department of journalism since 1997. He was 57.

Whelan said he and Bullion had a bond because of the war.

“We shared a lot of talk about Vietnam,” Whelan said. “The thing that impressed me about Stuart was the dedication to his job. He was extremely warm and inviting. When you went to his house it was like going to a long lost relative’s house.”

While serving in Vietnam, Bullion met and married Hanh Nguyen, who had a son from a previous marriage whom Bullion adopted. And when Whelan visited Vietnam in 1995, Bullion sent along money for his wife’s brother, who now lives in America.

Another thing that impressed Whelan about Bullion was the fact that even though he graduated from Princeton, Bullion served as an enlisted soldier in the U.S. Army.

“He was one of my Vietnam brothers,” he said. “I couldn’t say enough about him.”

Bullion was born Sept. 20, 1947, in Minneapolis to the late Col. James P. Bullion of Minneapolis and Maralyn Burt Howell of Oxford. He entered Princeton University with the Class of 1969 and majored in French and European civilization. After a year in graduate school at the University of Minnesota, Bullion was drafted and inducted into the U.S. Army in 1970.

Thirty years later, he was awarded a Meritorious Service Award when he retired as a lieutenant colonel, after serving in Vietnam and Iraq.

Bullion earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in mass communications from the University of Minnesota.

Bullion is survived by his mother, Maralyn Howell Bullion of Oxford, Miss.; wife Hanh Nguyen Bullion; two sons, Khoi Bullion of Bangor, Maine, and Braxton Bullion of Oxford; a daughter, Columbia Bullion of Oxford; two sisters, Carma Fitzpatrick of Middlebury, Vt., and Noelle Locke of Fairfax, Va.; and three brothers, John Bullion of Minneapolis, Thomas Bullion of Oxford and James Bullion of Millis, Mass.

Beginning next April, the University of Mississippi will feature a Stuart Bullion Lecture in Journalism to begin its annual Journalism Week, which is an annual event that features a keynote speaker from the field of print journalism.

Memorials can be sent to The Stuart Bullion Lecture in Journalism, c/o University of Mississippi Foundation, Department of Journalism, 331 Farley Hall, University, MS 38677.