Joseph Victor Adamec

Joseph Victor Adamec (August 13, 1935 – March 20, 2019) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in Pennsylvania from 1987 to 2011.

On March 1, 2016, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane implied that as bishop, Adamec led a major cover-up scandal involving the sexual assault of hundreds of children by Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown priests.

Biography

Early life Joseph Adamec was born on August 13, 1935, in Bannister, Michigan, the son of Michal August Adamec and Alzbeta Eva Ochran Adamec. He attended Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, from 1953 to 1955. He earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome in 1961.

Adamec's retirement and the appointment of his successor were announced by Pope Benedict XVI on January 14, 2011. Mark Leonard Bartchak, of the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, was named Adamec's successor. Joseph Adamec died in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on March 20, 2019, at age 83.