Preview
Date
1975
Description
Rev. Thomas R. Fitzgerald, S.J. was born in 1922 in Washington, D.C. A graduate of Gonzaga High School, he studied at Georgetown University before entering the Society of Jesus in 1939. He received an A.B from Woodstock College in 1945, as well as an M.A. in 1948. From 1946 to 1948, he taught at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia, Pa. He was ordained to the priesthood in Louvain, Belgium in 1952, receiving a licentiate in sacred theology in 1953. In 1957, he received a Ph.D. in classics from the University of Chicago. From 1957 to 1964, he taught classical languages at the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa. He then moved to Georgetown University, where he served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1964 to 1966 and Academic Vice President from 1966 to 1973.
Fr. Fitzgerald was elected President of Fairfield by the Board of Trustees in 1973, the first of the University’s leaders who did not also become Rector of the Fairfield Jesuit Community. His tenure included the establishment of the School of Business (1978) and the construction of the Student Recreational Complex and the Center for Financial Studies. In 2004, Fairfield recognized his contributions to the Dolan School of Business with the creation of the Rev. Thomas R. Fitzgerald Chair in Marketing.
Fr. Fitzgerald became President of St. Louis University in 1979, where he remained until 1987. From 1987 until his 1999 retirement to the Jesuit community at Georgetown, he was a professor of classics at Loyola College in Baltimore, where he also served as rector. He died in Washington, D.C. in 2004.
Publisher
Fairfield University
Collection
Image Archive
Original Format
Photographic print; black-and-white; 5 x 7 in.
Digitization Date
2007
Repository
Fairfield University Archives and Special Collections
Copyright
© Fairfield University. This resource may be used for educational or non-commercial purposes. Please direct any questions to digital@fairfield.edu.
Repository Citation
"Rev. Thomas R. Fitzgerald, S.J. – 6th President of Fairfield University (1973-1979)." 1975. Image Archive. Fairfield University Archives and Special Collections. https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/image-archive/187.