Fr. Eugene A. Nolan, SJ, died peacefully at the Scranton Jesuit Community on January 6, 2025, at the age of 84. A Scranton native and a graduate of Scranton Central High School, Fr. Nolan entered the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of Saint Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, PA on July 30, 1960. Shortly after pronouncing his first vows as a Jesuit, he began his studies at Loyola College and Seminary of Fordham University in Shrub Oak, New York. (A talented and focused man, he completed both his BA in Philosophy and English and his MA in English in less than four years.) He continued his studies (this time in theology) at Woodstock College (first in Maryland and then in New York), from which he received his M.Div in 1971. He was ordained a priest by Lawrence Cardinal Shehan on June 5, 1971.
A master teacher and a skilled administrator, Fr. Nolan had a rich and varied life in ministry, serving as a member of the faculties of Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, MD, Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC, Loyola High School (Blakefield) in Baltimore, MD, and his beloved Scranton Preparatory School; and as the Headmaster of Loyola Blakefield and as the President of Scranton Preparatory School. Widely admired in Jesuit circles for his wit, good judgment, mastery of Ignatian spirituality and his deep and abiding love for and devotion to his Jesuit brothers, he rounded out his pastoral life by serving as the minister of many of the Jesuit communities in which he lived, including those at Georgetown University, The University of Scranton, and Gonzaga College High School.
He was predeceased by his parents, Eugene and Ann (nee Mayer), and by his brother, Thomas J. He is survived by his three sisters: Mary Ellen Rossi (of Scranton), Eileen Grizzanti (of St Augustine, Florida) and Ann Marie Roberts (of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania).
Courtesy of the Scranton Times-Tribune
