Peake

Msgr. Daniel A. Peake

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Msgr. Daniel A. Peake, a longtime faculty member at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains who later served as a district superintendent of archdiocesan schools and pastor of St. Margaret of Cortona parish in Riverdale, the Bronx, died Jan. 15 at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. He was 87.

Archbishop Dolan offered the Funeral Mass Jan. 19 at St. Margaret of Cortona Church. Auxiliary Bishop Gerald Walsh, rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary, celebrated a Mass of the Holy Eucharist Jan. 18 at St. Margaret of Cortona Church.

“He was the perfect personalization of what Jesus said, ‘Learn from me, I am meek and humble of heart,’ ” said Msgr. John Farley, a close friend of Msgr. Peake’s, who delivered the homily at the Funeral Mass.

“He was a very Christian and priestly man, always looking out for others,” Msgr. Farley said. He also said that Msgr. Peake, as a younger man, was known as “a great basketball and baseball player.”

After serving the summer after his ordination at Immaculate Conception (St. Mary’s) parish, Yonkers, Msgr. Peake was assigned to Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains where he taught theology and English from 1949 to 1970. While at Stepinac he also coached freshman and varsity basketball. He was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2000.

He then served as archdiocesan district superintendent of Westchester schools, 1970-1976, before moving into parochial ministry.

He was administrator at St. Mary’s parish, Katonah, for three years before serving as pastor of St. Margaret’s, 1979-1991.

He also served as parochial vicar of Resurrection parish, Rye, and then as senior priest and associate spiritual director at St. John Neumann Residence and St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, before his retirement to the John Cardinal O’Connor Residence in 2003.

In 1998 he received the Friend of Mercy Award for his long association with the Sisters of Mercy. As a theology professor 40 years earlier, he taught the order’s novices and postulants at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry.

Born in New York City, he studied for the priesthood at Cathedral College and St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie and was ordained in 1949. He held a master’s in education from Fordham University.

He was named a monsignor in 1990.

Burial was in Calvary Cemetery in Queens.

Msgr. Daniel A. Peake