Rest In Peace: Fr. Francis X. Miller, S.J.

Holy Cross mourns loss of former official
By Bronislaus B. Kush
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER— The Rev. Francis X. Miller, S.J., who shunted aside a career as a Manhattan banker to become a Jesuit priest and who is credited with putting the College of the Holy Cross on sound financial footing, died Tuesday at the Campion Center in Weston. He was 82. Rev. Miller, a beloved figure on Mount St. James, served for 22 years as vice president of development.

He worked closely with then college President John E. Brooks, S.J., in financially strengthening the school and reaching out to alumni for support “Father Miller was a very important figure on campus,” said school spokesman Ellen Ryder.

Born in Worcester, he was the son of Francis L. and Mary (O’Brien) Miller. After graduating from St. John’s High School in 1942, he began his college studies at Holy Cross; however, he joined the Navy in 1944. He returned to the school and was an infielder on baseball teams managed by legendary Holy Cross coach Jack Barry. He graduated from Holy Cross and worked for Chase National Bank of New York.

But in 1951, he decided to become a priest and entered the Jesuit Novitiate of New England Province at Shadowbrook in Lenox. He later studied philosophy at Weston College and earned a master’s degree in business administration in 1956. He was ordained in 1959 by Cardinal Richard J. Cushing, archbishop of Boston.

Rev. Miller served as Holy Cross’ financial adviser from 1963 to 1970, and as a trustee from 1970 to 1973. The school conferred an honorary doctorate of humane letters upon Rev. Miller in 1996, a year after he retired. “You have traveled the length and breadth of America on behalf of Holy Cross and led a development effort unparalleled in the history of this college,” read the citation.

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