John C. Wright was born July 27, 1933. He earned an A.B. in Social Relations (Magna) from Harvard University in 1954 and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University in 1960. After holding teaching positions at Stanford, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Wisconsin he was appointed Associate Professor of Human Development and Psychology at the University of Kansas in 1968. Wright also served as a visiting professor at universities in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and London.

Wright was elected to act as a delegate from Minnesota to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 1968. He knew, met, and corresponded with many well-known political figures of the day and actively pursued an ending to the Vietnam War through peaceful demonstrations. One such demonstration at K.U. was the disruption of an ROTC Chancellor's Review, which ultimately led to a reprimand from the K.U. Senate.

Wright's political affiliations included the American Civil Liberties Union, Lawrence Peace Committee, and Lawrence Committee on Civil Rights. Wright held affiliations with numerous academic organizations, received countless grants for research, and won the accolades of students and colleagues for his dynamic approach to teaching. He was nominated by the senior class at K.U. for the H.O.P.E. Award (Honor for an Outstanding Progressive Educator) nine times and was a finalist in the 1972-1973 school year.

Throughout his career, Wright was actively involved in community development and also participated in Lawrence Community Theatre and Lawrence Civic Choir. Along with his wife and colleague Aletha C. Huston, Wright retired from the University of Kansas in 1996 to seek funding opportunities for their Center for Research on the Influences of Television on Children (CRITC) at the University of Texas-Austin, where Professor Huston still teaches. Their research led to a groundbreaking understanding of the potential for educational TV to have a positive effect on the learning process.

Author and co-author of dozens of articles into understanding adolescent cognitive development, Professor Wright's work has been cited and sourced by many in the psychological field as well as used in high profile and government lawsuits regarding the TV industry. Tragically, John C. Wright was killed in a car crash on July 9, 2001 while vacationing at his summer home in Minnesota. Just before his death he had expanded his research of technology's influence on children to include computer programs and the internet.