John Bapst was a Swiss Jesuit missionary and educator who became the first president of Boston College.
Nicholas Russo was an Italian Catholic priest,Jesuit,philosopher,and missionary. Born in Italy,he ran away from his family and joined the Society of Jesus in France in 1862,where he was educated and began teaching. In 1875,Russo was sent to the United States to study at Woodstock College. For ten years,he was a professor and the chair of philosophy at Boston College and became its first faculty member to publish a book. Specializing in Thomism,he was regarded as a successful professor. He served as president of the college from 1887 to 1888.
Charles William Lyons was an American Catholic priest who became the only Jesuit and likely the only educator in the United States to have served as the president of four colleges. Born in Boston,Massachusetts,he attended the local public schools before entering the wool industry. He abandoned his career in industry to enter the Society of Jesus. While a novice in Maryland,he suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent to Georgetown University as prefect. He then resumed his studies at Woodstock College,teaching intermittently at Gonzaga College in Washington,D.C. and Loyola College in Baltimore. After his ordination,he became a professor at St. Francis Xavier College in New York City and at Boston College.
Anthony Francis Ciampi was an Italian priest of the Catholic Church and member of the Society of Jesus.
Samuel A. Mulledy was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who served as president of Georgetown College in 1845. Born in Virginia,he was the brother of Thomas F. Mulledy,who was a prominent 19th-century Jesuit in the United States and a president of Georgetown. As a student at Georgetown,Samuel was one of the founding members of the Philodemic Society,and proved to be a distinguished student,which resulted in his being sent to Rome to complete his higher education and be ordained to the priesthood. Upon his return to the United States,he became the master of novices at the Jesuit novitiate in Maryland,before being named president of Georgetown. He sought to be relieved of the position after only a few months,and returned to teaching and ministry.
John Dunning Whitney was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became the president of Georgetown University in 1898. Born in Massachusetts,he joined the United States Navy at the age of sixteen,where he was introduced to Catholicism by way of a book that accidentally came into his possession and prompted him to become a Catholic. He entered the Society of Jesus and spent the next twenty-five years studying and teaching mathematics at Jesuit institutions around the world,including in Canada,England,Ireland,and around the United States in New York,Maryland,Boston,and Louisiana. He became the vice president of Spring Hill College in Alabama before being appointed the president of Georgetown University.
John Berchmans Creeden was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit,who served in many senior positions at Jesuit universities in the United States. Born in Massachusetts,he attended Boston College,and studied for the priesthood in Maryland and Austria. He taught at Fordham University and then at Georgetown University,where he became the dean of Georgetown College in 1909,and simultaneously served as the principal of Georgetown Preparatory School.
Thomas Ignatius Gasson was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit. Born in England,he emigrated to the United States at the age of 13,and was taken under the care of two Catholic women in Philadelphia,which led to his conversion to Catholicism soon thereafter. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1875,and studied theology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria,where he was ordained a priest. Upon his return to the United States,he became a professor at Boston College,before being named President of Boston College in 1907.
William J. Devlin,S.J. was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit. Born in New York City,he spent many of his early years in Europe,where he was educated at Stonyhurst College in England. Devlin entered the Society of Jesus in Maryland in 1893,and studied at Woodstock College. He became a professor at Boston College in 1910,and eventually became the dean.
Edward Ignatius Devitt was a Canadian American priest,Jesuit,and historian of the American Catholic Church. Born in Saint John,New Brunswick,he moved with his family to Boston,Massachusetts,at a young age. He studied in public schools in the city before enrolling at the College of the Holy Cross. Devitt spent two years there,and then entered the Society of Jesus in 1859. He studied at the novitiate in Frederick,Maryland,and at the newly opened Woodstock College. He briefly taught at the Washington Seminary during his studies,and after graduating,was a professor for the next thirty years at Holy Cross,Woodstock,and Georgetown University.
Thomas H. Stack was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who served briefly as the president of Boston College in 1887. Born in present-day West Virginia,he studied at the Virginia Military Institute. After the outbreak of the Civil War,he enlisted in the Confederate States Army in 1863,serving as an artilleryman and then in the signal corps until 1865. He enrolled at Georgetown College in 1866,and entered the Society of Jesus in 1868.
Robert Wasson Brady was an American Catholic priest who led several Jesuit institutions in the United States. He served twice as the president of the College of the Holy Cross from 1867 to 1869 and from 1883 to 1887. He was also the second president of Boston College from 1869 to 1870 and the provincial superior of the Jesuits' Maryland Province from 1877 to 1882.
Robert James Fulton was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who twice served as the president of Boston College,from 1870 to 1880 and 1888 to 1891. He was influential in the early years of Boston College,as he was in charge of all the school's academic affairs.
Edward Victor Boursaud was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was the president of Boston College from 1884 to 1887. Raised in New York City and France,he studied at Mount St. Mary's College in Maryland before entering the Society of Jesus in 1863. For the next 18 years,he studied and taught at Jesuit institutions,including Boston College,Georgetown College,and Woodstock College,as well as the novitiate in Frederick,Maryland. In 1881 and 1887,he served three-year terms in Italy as the assistant secretary to the Jesuit Superior General for the English-speaking world.
Timothy J. Brosnahan was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who served as the president of Boston College from 1894 to 1898. Born in Virginia,he joined the Society of Jesus in 1872,and taught philosophy at Woodstock College,Georgetown University,and Boston College. After his presidency,he wrote a prominent article criticizing an article by Harvard University's president that deprecated Jesuit education. In his later years,he taught and wrote about ethics.
William F. Gannon was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was the president of Boston College from 1903 to 1907. Born in Cambridge,Massachusetts,he entered the Society of Jesus in 1876 and studied at Woodstock College. He then taught at Jesuit schools,including the College of the Holy Cross,Saint Peter's College,Fordham University,and Georgetown University,before becoming president of Boston College. After his presidency,he engaged in pastoral work in New York City and Philadelphia.
William James McGarry was an American Catholic priest,Jesuit,and theologian who was the president of Boston College from 1937 to 1939. Born in Massachusetts,he received his Doctorate of Sacred Theology from Woodstock College and his Licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute. In 1930,McGarry became a professor of theology and various languages at Weston College,ultimately becoming its prefect of studies in 1934.
Edward A. McGurk was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was the president of Loyola College in Maryland from 1877 to 1885 and the president of the College of the Holy Cross from 1893 to 1895. Born in Philadelphia,he entered the Society of Jesus in 1857. He taught at Holy Cross before becoming the president of Loyola College,where he liquidated some of the school's debt,which had accrued during the Civil War. In 1885,McGurk became the president of Gonzaga College in Washington,D.C. During his tenure,he constructed a new residence for the Jesuits and scholastics.
William J. Murphy was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was the president of Boston College from 1939 to 1945. Born in Massachusetts,he studied at Boston College for two years before entering the Society of Jesus in 1914. He later studied philosophy at Woodstock College and theology at Weston College,and taught at Fordham University and the College of the Holy Cross. In 1934,he was placed in charge of overseeing the schools in the Jesuit province of New England.
William Lane Keleher was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was the president of Boston College from 1945 to 1951. During his tenure,the school oversaw rapid and significant growth in the number of students returning from World War II under the G.I. Bill. In the span of five years,enrollment increased from 236 to 7,526 students.
