Father Alfred Isacsson, O. Carm.

Father Alfred Isacsson, O. Carm., a former pastor of Transfiguration parish in Tarrytown, died Sept. 6 at Orange Regional Medical Center in Middletown. He was 79.

In addition to his pastorate, Father Isacsson served in several prominent positions for the Carmelites of the North American Province of St. Elias during his years with the order.

He was pastor of Transfiguration from 1992 to 2002, when he retired to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Priory in Middletown. He was a parochial vicar at the parish for a year before becoming pastor.

He was a teacher at St. Simon Stock High School, the Bronx, and prior of St. Simon Stock Priory, 1964-1967, and he was a teacher and eventually the principal of St. Albert’s Seminary in Middletown, 1967-1976. He also served as prior of St. Albert’s Priory there.

He was vocation director at the Provincial House in Maspeth, Queens, 1976-1982, and also at St. Thomas Aquinas in Brooklyn, 1982-1983. He was a high school teacher and principal in Boca Raton, Fla., 1988-1991.

Father Isacsson was the editor of The Scapular, a publication of the Carmelites, from 1959 to 1964, and also was the author of published articles, papers and books about the Carmelites and historical figures. He was provincial archivist from 1979 until his death.

Father Isacsson was born in Brooklyn and entered the Carmelites in 1951. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at St. Bonaventure University. He professed final vows as a Carmelite in 1955 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1958.

He is survived by a brother, Paul. He was predeceased by a brother, Raymond, and a sister, Sister Mary Joel, R.D.C.

A Funeral Mass was offered Sept. 8 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Middletown, with burial in the Carmelite Cemetery at St. Albert’s in Middletown.