Father William Robert Gannon, O.P. died peacefully on Sunday, July 10, 2016, at the Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, NY, at the age of 88. Fr. Gannon served the Church for many years as a teacher and hospital chaplain. He is survived by his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Gyori, Wallingford Vermont, and his brother, James Gannon of Spring Lake Heights, NJ, 6 nieces,one nephew and several great nieces and nephews.
Father Gannon was born July 25, 1927, in Spring Lake, NJ, to William Rouget Gannon and Elizabeth Thecla (nee Conroy) Gannon and named William Rouget after his father. He attended St. Aloysius Academy and Parochial School in Jersey City, NJ, and St. Francis Xavier Military High School in New York, NY. He enrolled in Providence College in 1945 as a preparatory student for the Dominican Order.
He entered the Dominican Novitiate in September of 1946 at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, KY. He made his first profession at St. Rose on September 11, 1947 and his solemn profession at the Dominican House of Studies on September 11, 1950. He studied philosophy at St. Joseph Priory in Somerset, OH, and the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (PFIC) in Washington, DC, and then continued theology at the Pontifical Faculty. On June 4, 1953, he was ordained a priest at St. Dominic’s Church in Washington, DC.
In 1954, after completing an STL at the PFIC, Fr. Gannon was assigned to St. Vincent Ferrer Priory in New York City, where he served in parochial ministry and taught theology at Marymount Manhattan College. In 1956, he was assigned to St. Joseph Priory in Somerset, OH, where he served as Assistant Novice Master and taught at the Good Samaritan School of Nursing in Zanesville, OH. In 1960, he was assigned to St. Mary Priory in New Haven, CT, where he taught theology at Albertus Magnus College. In 1967, he was assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Priory in Providence, RI, where he taught theology at Providence College.
In 1968, Fr. Gannon was assigned to Holy Name Priory in Philadelphia, PA, where he studied at the University of Pennsylvania earning a Master’s in Social Work (MSW) in 1970. After completing his degree, he returned to Providence College and resumed teaching as an assistant professor of social work. In 1974, he began Ph.D. studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.
In 1993, Fr. Gannon left Providence College and was assigned again to St. Vincent Ferrer Priory and began serving as a hospital chaplain in the New York City hospitals.
In 2015, Fr. Gannon moved to St. Dominic Priory in Washington, DC, to better provide for his health care needs. In 2016, he moved to Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, NY, where the sisters cared for him during his final days.
Fr. Gannon’s body was received at the Rosary Hill Home at 3:30 pm on Thursday, July 14. The Office of the Dead was celebrated later that evening. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in the Chapel at Rosary Hill Home at 10:30 am on Friday, July 15. Very Reverend Darren Pierre, O.P., Socius, was the principle celebrant and Rev. Christopher Johnson, O.P. was the preacher. Interment followed in All Souls Cemetery, Pleasantville, NY.