RIP Bill King SJ

[Emp]

Bill King was a great guy and a great Jesuit. I met him in the run up to the closing of Marion Hall when we did a reunion, and kept in touch. Real, centered, empathetic, intelligent, everything you want in a priest and counselor.

From the Jebbies....

"Father William F. King, S.J. died on Thursday, August 20, 2009 at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan. May he be at peace with the Lord he loved so well.

Father King was born in Akron, Ohio on May 27, 1926. He entered the Society of Fr. William King S.J.Jesus on February 10, 1944 at the Milford Novitiate in Milford, Ohio. He was ordained June 19, 1957, at West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana. He pronounced his final vows on August 15, 1961 in Cleveland, Ohio.

He taught at St. Ignatius High School, Chicago, Illinois (1951-1954). Father King was the Sub-Secretary for the American Jesuit Assistancy at the Jesuit Curia, Rome, Italy (1959-1960). He was professor at John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio (1960-1968), Director of Sodality at John Carroll University (1962-1968) and Headmaster of residence halls at John Carroll University (1964-1968). He went to Cincinnati, Ohio where he was Professor and Chaplain of the Mens’ Honors Residence at Xavier University (1973-89) and Faculty Admissions Counselor at Xavier (1982-1989). In 1990 he taught Religion at St. Aloysius College, Sydney, Australia for six months before returning to Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio to be the Associate Director of Alumni Relations (1990-2000). Father King was Alumni Chaplain Emeritus at Xavier University (2000-2005) before retiring to the Colombiere Health Care Center.

Visitation will be held at Colombiere Center Chapel on Sunday, August 23 from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. followed by a Prayer Service at 7:00 p.m. Mass of Christian burial will be on Monday, August 24 at 10:45 a.m. followed by the burial at Colombiere.

Memorial gifts may be given online or mailed to: The Jesuits, 7303, W. 7 Mile Rd., Detroit, MI 48221.

Please remember Fr. William F. King, S.J and his family in your prayers.

In the Lord,

Fr. Timothy P. Kesicki, S.J.

Provincial

[xudash]

Bob Smith and now Bill King.

He was everything you said Emperor. I had him for class. Then I got to know him again and better, spending some time with him in the early 90's while President of the Pittsburgh Alumni Chapter; Xavier spent a lot of effort building the alumni chapter network in the early 90's and Bill contributed to that. He was simply a good human being.

[vee4xu]

Bill King was a great priest and an even better human being. May his soul rest in peace.

[XURunner85]

Wow, I met Bill King as a freshman in the 81-82 school year. My older borther had gone to X for 2 years before I got here, so he new my brother and he and John Larrocca and I became friends. Fr Bill married me and my ex-wife at Ballermine in 1987. He and I would have dinner every so often and when I didn't have season tickets to X games he would occassionally invite me to a game. One game in particular was at the Gardens against UC, it was the night of "the lack of a handshake" between Pete and Thugs. I am very sad by this, but for some reason the past few weeks when I read the Sunday paper and get to the obits/notices I always check to see if he is in there like I knew something. I know in the past few years he has not been well. He has a brother who is also a Jesuit and a sister who is a Nun. He youngest sister is the only one who got married and I know she had one daughter who graduated from X back in the late 90's or early 2K.
I also saw in the paper yesterday and again today another Jesuit died, Fr Donnelly.

May both of our Jesuit brothers RIP.
Will miss you Fr. Bill

[XU-XHI]

Fr. King was a great guy. You knew he truly enjoyed being with the students. Loved going out with groups of students for dinner and of course a drink or few. Always had that look about him in which you were never sure if he had already had a fine beverage. We are all better for having him around in our lifetime. God Bless you Bill.

[Xpectations]

Very sad to hear this.

I entered Xavier as a 17-year old, non-Catholic, not terribly religious, public school graduate. I had never even met a priest of any kind. I remember wondering if Theology 101 was going to be a glorified version of Sunday School as a child. I had no idea what to expect.

My very first class on my first day at Xavier was Theology 101. I walked in expecting to see some stuffy holy guy in formal religous attire. I was the first student to arrive and the only other person in the room was an older guy wearing a faded pullover shirt, a pair of very old jeans, and a Coors Beer belt buckle. I remember thinking how strange it was that the janitor was still cleaning the room so close to class time.

More and more students filed into the room and took their seats. Class started and the older guy walked to the front of the class and introduced himself as Father Bill King. I was shocked because he was the opposite of what I expected.

The class itself was also the opposite of what I expected. I found Father King to be a very free-thinking scholar, unafraid to discuss any question or theme regardless of how untraditional it was religiously, and without judging the person asking the question or raising the topic.

I ended up sitting with Father King at several basketball games that year, always with a beer in his hand -- sometimes two -- another image I had never pictured in my head about men of God.

Every basketball season I point to the giant wall picture of Father King riding in the convertible at the Cintas Center and tell my wife, "There is my all-time favorite professor." He was just a really good guy.

The thing I liked best about Father King is that he never taught you what to think. He taught you how to think. And he did it well.

[Fred Garvin]

Xpecs, great post. He sounds like someone I'd have like to have known.

Also, not to digress, but you sound anti-janitor. Anybody who has seen "Good Will Hunting" knows custodians are mathematical geniuses.