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Father James J. Fischer, S.J., a former president of Regis High School in Manhattan, died April 11 at Murray-Weigel Hall in the Bronx. He was 90.
He was president of Regis from 1980 to 1992, the longest tenure of a president in the school’s 100-year history. He then became president of McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, 1992-2003.
As part of his initial Jesuit training he taught at St. Peter’s College, Jersey City, and Canisius High School, Buffalo, 1949-1951. He studied theology at Woodstock College, 1952-1956. He taught mathematics to Jesuit seminarians at Loyola Seminary, Shrub Oak, 1957-1965.
He then undertook a series of administrative positions, first as rector of the Jesuit novitiate in Poughkeepsie and then as president of the high school and rector of the Jesuit community at St. Peter’s Prep, 1967-1968 and 1973-1979. Between those two assignments he served as vice-provincial for social and pastoral ministry of the Jesuits’ New York Province. He was associate director of campus ministry at Fordham University, 1979-1980.
Born in Jersey City, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1942 and was ordained to priesthood in 1955. He held a bachelor’s degree and licentiate in sacred theology from Woodstock College.
A Funeral Mass was offered April 16 at Fordham University Church. Burial was in the Jesuit Cemetery, Auriesville.
