Priest recalled for commitment to diversity, work in Central America
Father Charles Beirne, former president of Le Moyne has passed away. He's shown outside Grewan Hall in this 2007 photo.Syracuse, NY -- Father Charles J. Beirne, former president of LeMoyne College, died Thursday, less than a month after announcing he had decided against receiving chemotherapy for a recurring cancer.
Beirne led LeMoyne from 2000 to 2007, where he oversaw a comprehensive five-year strategic plan, a new mission statement and work toward the development of an architectural master plan for the campus.
Beirne,71, died at Fordham University in New York City.
Ordained a Jesuit priest in 1969, Beirne served in positions in the United States and Latin America.
Longtime friend and LeMoyne Alumni Chaplain Father David Casey, recalled that Beirne’s first posting to a Spanish-speaking nation was a fluke. There was another Jesuit named Charles Burns, Casey said, who was supposed to be sent to Puerto Rico while Beirne was heading back to his native Jersey City, N.J.
But through some mix up it was announced that Beirne was going and a news story appeared announcing his appointment.
So Beirne went to the Caribbean. “A press release sent him to Puerto Rico instead of Jersey City,” Casey said. “It was a slip of fate or God’s sense of humor.”
In the 1989, six Jesuits, their housekeeper and the housekeeper’s daughter were murdered at Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador by members of the military. Beirne volunteered to go to El Salvador.
Beirne became the Universidad Centroamericana’s vice president of academic affairs and advised the U.S. government on Latin American matters. After three years he became vice president at Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala where he served until being appointed LeMoyne’s 11th president in 2000.
At LeMoyne, Beirne was passionate about diversity, said his successor, Dr. Fred P. Pestello. “He consistently and urgently spoke about diversity,” Pestello said.
He also launched a capital campaign, the largest in LeMoyne’s history. That campaign closed last month having raised $91 million for the college, Pestello said.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized, but LeMoyne officials expected Beirne would be buried in New York City, perhaps this weekend.
Planning has begun at LeMoyne for a fall memorial mass in Beirne’s honor, after students return to campus. Beirne put together a list of suggested participants in the mass.
Casey last saw Beirne four weeks ago. Beirne was physically weaker, but still thinking and speaking clearly and in good spirits. “He was,” Casey said, “facing the immediate future with wide-open eyes.”
Contact Charles McChesney@syracuse.com.