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Brady, John A. (Father)

March 15, 2017

Jesuit Father John A. Brady, longtime seminary and high school teacher and parish priest, died on Mar. 15, 2017, at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, Los Gatos, California.

Brady, John A.

Jesuit Father John A. Brady, longtime seminary and high school teacher and parish priest, died on Mar. 15, 2017, at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, Los Gatos, California. He was 98 years of age, a Jesuit for 80 years, and a priest for 67 years.

Born in Taft, California, on April 30, 1918, and raised in the Los Angeles area, Fr. Brady graduated from Loyola High School and entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Los Gatos in 1936. Following studies there and at Spokane, he taught English at St. Ignatius High School, San Francisco, 1943-46. Theological training was taken at Alma College, Los Gatos, and he was ordained a priest June 4, 1949 in San Francisco.

Upon completion of studies, Fr. Brady spent 37 years as a high school teacher, administrator, chaplain, bus driver, and alumni relations at Jesuit schools throughout California: Bellarmine Prep, San Jose (1951-52), Ryan Preparatory Seminary, Fresno, (1952-65), Jesuit High School, Sacramento (1965-68), once more at Bellarmine (1968-71), and Loyola High School, Los Angeles (1971-88).

Leaving high school ministry, Fr. Brady put his fluency in Spanish to work in parish assignments in Santa Barbara (1988-96), Van Nuys (1996-2000), and, at Loyola High School, where he served the pastoral needs of convents and retirement homes. In 2011, he took up residence at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, Los Gatos.

Fr. Brady remained physically active into old age. He enjoyed years of hiking and fishing in the Sierra Nevada, hard physical work in his spare time, and, up to a few years ago, early morning bicycle rides.

He is survived by a sister, Bernice Medinnis, of Laguna Hills, California, and nieces Denni del Castillo, of Laguna Beach, California, and Elene Wood, of Laguna Niguel, California, and nephews William Brady, of Oxnard, California, John Brady of Los Angeles, and Michael Medinnis of Germany.