Father Ronald Pecci, O.F.M.

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Father Ronald Pecci, O.F.M., who was twice a pastor and also served his religious community in other roles, died April 12 at a hospital in Sharon, Conn. He was 71.

He had been living at St. Lawrence Friary in Beacon since last spring.
Father Pecci was a pastor in Buffalo, 1987-1999, and Fair Lawn, N.J., 1999-2005.

He also served two terms as provincial councilor for the Franciscans’ Holy Name Province in Manhattan.

He served on the vocation team at the Holy Cross formation house in the Bronx, where he also directed the province’s pre-novitiate formation.

In 2017, he relocated to the College of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx, where he was a founding member of the Franciscan fraternity that lived among the students and served two years as chaplain of campus ministry and mission.

Born in Brooklyn, he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, where he received a master’s in Franciscan studies. He held a master’s in biology from William Paterson College of New Jersey.

He was received into the Order of Friars Minor in 1978 and professed final vows in 1982 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1983.

His 100-year-old mother, Gloria Pecci, survives him along with five siblings.

A Funeral Mass was offered April 18 at St. Bonaventure Church in Paterson, N.J. Burial was at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, N.J.

Father Ronald Pecci, O.F.M.