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In Memoriam

Father Gerald V. (Jerry) Gordon, SJ, university theology professor and chaplain at Pacific Northwest hospitals, died at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, California, on January 4, 2021. He was 95 years old and had recently tested positive for Covid-19.

Fr. Gordon was born in Spokane on October 8, 1925. He graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1943 and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Sheridan, Oregon, that year. His Jesuit training took him back to Spokane for philosophy studies, a period of teaching at Gonzaga High School and then to the Alma College campus of Santa Clara University in Los Gatos for theological studies. He was ordained a priest in Spokane on June 20, 1957.

Fr. Gordon taught theology at Gonzaga University (1959-1965), did graduate studies in theology at Fordham University and returned to Gonzaga for a year before taking a position on the theology faculty of Xavier University in Cincinnati (1970-1977). Leaving academia, Fr. Gordon turned his gifts to hospital chaplaincy. He served in Catholic hospitals in Lewiston, Idaho; Pendleton, Oregon; Portland; and Spokane for almost 30 years. His final years in the Northwest were spent in a ministry of prayer and presence at the Gonzaga University Jesuit community (2004-2015), where he was known for his easy manner, good humor and gentle presence. He moved to the health care center in Los Gatos in 2015.

Fr. Gordon is survived by his sister, Sister Patricia Gordon, FSPA, of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Funeral Masses at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center are currently not open to the public because of Covid-19 restrictions. To view Fr. Gordon’s livestreamed funeral Mass, click here.