Cassidy, Bernard F. (Father)

Jesuit Father Bernard F. Cassidy, 96, died Sept. 15, 2013, in Regis Infirmary, Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, Calif. A Jesuit since 1954, he recently celebrated his 50th anniversary of priestly ordination.

Fr. Cassidy was born in Los Angeles in 1917 and was a 1940 graduate of Santa Clara University, where he majored in electrical engineering. From 1940 until 1953 he worked as a civilian electrical engineer for the Army and Air Force, involved in the design, installation, repair and instruction in the use of electrical and electronic systems at military bases in Hawaii and Sandia, N.M.

After his ordination to the priesthood in 1963, he taught theology and served as student chaplain at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles (1965-67) and in parish ministry at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood, Christ the King Church in San Diego (1968-78) and Holy Family Church in San Jose, Calif. (1979-82).

In 1982 he returned to Hawaii and served as Director of Spiritual Services at St. Francis Medical Center in Honolulu, retiring in 1992. He then became a hospice chaplain until 2005, when he retired to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center. During his four decades of ministry Fr. Cassidy touched the lives of countless students, parishioners and hospital patients.