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In Memoriam

Jesuit Father Edward Glynn, former provincial of the Maryland Province Jesuits, died on January 23, 2016, at the Colombiere Jesuit Community in Baltimore. He was 80 years old, a Jesuit for 60 years and a priest for 48 years.

Fr. Glynn served as provincial of the Maryland Province from 1990 to 1996. He also served as president of John Carroll University in Cleveland from 1998 to 2005 and as president of Saint Peter’s College (now University) in Jersey City, New Jersey, from 1978 to 1990. He was the founding president of Christ the King Preparatory School, a Cristo Rey high school in Newark, New Jersey, which opened in 2007.

He also served as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Massachusetts Boston and as president of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He taught at Georgetown University and was a contributing editor and columnist for America magazine, as well as director of the Woodstock Theological Center and acting director of the Churches’ Center for Theology and Public Policy.

Born in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, the eighth of nine children, Fr. Glynn studied classical languages at the University of Scranton. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1955 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1967.

Fr. Glynn earned advanced degrees from Fordham University, Woodstock College and Yale Divinity School. He was awarded his Doctorate of Theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

Respected for his leadership style, Fr. Glynn was regarded as a man who was always looking to help others.

“He was a champion and dedicated public servant,” said Rick Tosches, whose friendship with Fr. Glynn dated back to 1978, when Tosches was a freshman at St. Peter’s during Fr. Glynn’s first year as president. “His goals were not personal, but altruistic, whether for his peers, his students, his institutions, his communities, his friends. Each and every person or place he served was far better off, for Fr. Glynn left his classic and indelible mark.”