Rev. James N. Loughran, College Head, 66
DGH
Rev. James N. Loughran, 66, College Head, Dies
It was reported from Jersey City, New Jersey, on December 27, 2006,
that the Reverand James N. Loughran, president of St. Peter's College
since 1995, was found dead Sunday morning, December 24, 2006, after an
accidental fall, at the age of 66.
Father Loughran was discovered at the base of a staircase in his campus
residence here after friends said he had missed an appointment. The
regional medical examiner ruled the death accidental and said it was
caused by an impact to his head and neck, said the Hudson County, New
Joersey, prosecutor, Edward J. De Fazio.
During his tenure at the college, Father Loughran increased campus
housing so that nearly half of the school's 3,000 undergraduate and
graduate students now live on campus, said a school spokesman, Stephen
J. Hudik.
Before returning to St. Peter's, where he had been a philosophy
professor in the 1960s, Father Loughran was president of Loyola
Marymount University in Los Angeles from 1984-91; acting president of
Brooklyn College in 1992; and interim president of Mount Saint Mary's
College in Emmittsburg, Md., from 1993-94.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 22, 1940, Father Loughran entered
the Jesuit order at 18 and graduated from Fordham in 1964, later
receiving his master's and doctorate there. He was ordained as a
priest in 1970.
Source: AP
Brad Ferguson
<peri...@eudoramail.com> rewrote and I restored:
> JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) - The Rev. James N. Loughran, president of St.
> Peter's College since 1995, has died from an accidental fall.
>
> Loughran, 66, was found Sunday morning [24 Dec] at the base of a
> staircase in his campus residence after friends said he had missed an
> appointment, officials said Tuesday.
>
> The regional medical examiner ruled the death accidental and said it
> was caused by impact to his head and neck, Hudson County [NJ]
> Prosecutor Edward J. DeFazio said. Loughran had last been seen Saturday
> afternoon, he said.
>
> Loughran's pursuits included efforts to preserve and enhance the Jesuit
> identity of St. Peter's and other Jesuit colleges, school spokesman
> Stephen J. Hudik said.
>
> During his tenure at the college in Jersey City, Loughran boosted
> campus housing so that nearly half of the school's 3,000 undergraduate
> and graduate students now live on campus, Hudik said.
>
> Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 22, 1940, Loughran entered the Jesuit
> order at 18 and graduated from Fordham University in 1964, later
> receiving his master's and doctorate from that school.
In June 1972 Loughran was some sort of assistant dean at Fordham
University in the Bronx. He had a small, dimly lit office, and that's
where I was sitting when he threw me out of F.U. because I'd stopped
going to classes quite a while before. He sat behind his desk, smoking
one cigarette after another, squinting at me through the resulting
haze. He would take in a mouthful of smoke and snap it down with an
audible click. It was like watching a turtle swallow a goldfish. It
wasn't so bad that Loughran threw me out -- I had it coming -- but the
Dean Wormer bit where he notified the on-campus military recruiters
that I was suddenly available was ... excessive.
Loughran later became a hit man, briefly becoming president of Brooklyn
College and then Mt. St. Mary's in order to clean house for the next
president. Loughran got pretty good at throwing people out --
students, faculty, administrators, all were the same to him. Mt. St.
Mary's is just up the road from me, and Loughran's year there was well
covered in the local press. He became notorious around here, and I
guess I didn't mind that a bit.
Anyway, I always thought lung cancer would get him.