Fr. William B. Neenan, S.J., a Jesuit, professor and administrator who lived and worked at Boston College since 1979, has died. According to the Boston College press office, Fr. Neenan passed away yesterday at his BC residence.
Fr. Neenan was one of the most respected and beloved Jesuits at BC, known for his lunches with students, his famous reading lists, his personal kindness and his academic and administrative proficiency. He was a true living legend. BC's official statement noted:
Throughout his 35 years of service, Fr. Neenan was an active and in-demand presence at Boston College and a highly sought-after speaker at alumni events nationwide. He attended countless reunions and alumni club gatherings, spoke at myriad student forums, served as chair of several administrative search committees and officiated at hundreds of alumni weddings. His mellifluous voice, familiar to all in the BC community, is among those of administrators and faculty members included on the University's mobile “Tour of the Heights.”
Here is Fr. Neenan talking to students at Boston College on a theme that he described this way: "He was born on third base; he thinks he hit a triple."
