William L. Mugan (Father)

Father Mugan loved being a Jesuit and a priest. He loved telling Jesuit stories.

Jesuit Fr. William L. Mugan, SJ, died on January 30, 2014, at St. Camillus in Wauwatosa, Wis. He was 91 years old, a Jesuit for 71 years, and a priest for 58 years.

Born in Omaha, Neb., on January 28, 1923, Fr. Mugan attended grade school and high school in Omaha and studied one year at Creighton University before entering the Society of Jesus at St. Stanislaus Seminary, Florissant, Mo. He had the usual Jesuit course of studies at St. Stanislaus, Saint Louis University, and St. Mary’s College. He was ordained a priest on June 16, 1955, made tertianship in Decatur, Ill., and professed his final vows on August 15, 1958.

Father Mugan taught high school during regency, but after tertianship, he served mostly as a community minister and treasurer in a succession of Midwest Jesuit communities. He received training as a hospital chaplain and served for a number of years at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Omaha and Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Finally, in 1992, Fr. Mugan was appointed Wisconsin Province archivist. He was a natural in this position and worked in one capacity or another as an archivist in Milwaukee and St. Louis and even after he moved to St. Camillus.

Father Mugan loved being a Jesuit and a priest. He loved telling Jesuit stories and recounting the history of the Catholic Church in Omaha and Milwaukee. He was a quiet, steady presence in community and a wise community minister. He lived peacefully through years of change in both the Church and Society.

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