OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Hundreds of people - including Gov. Pete Ricketts and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert - attended the funeral Mass for the Rev. John Schlegel, who led Creighton University in Omaha for more than a decade.
Schlegel died Sunday at an Omaha hospice after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 72.
He became the university’s 23rd president in 2000 and left the post in 2011.
About 700 people attended his funeral Friday at St. John’s Catholic Church in Omaha, the Omaha World-Herald reported (https://bit.ly/1NIPKC6 ). Besides the governor and mayor, attendees included former Omaha Mayors Mike Fahey and Jim Suttle and Archbishop emeritus Elden Curtiss, as well as former Creighton president Father Timothy Lannon and its current president, the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson.
Schlegel was hailed Friday by many as a visionary, including William Fitzgerald, the Omaha businessman who chaired the Creighton board of trustees that named Schlegel president.
In 2005, Creighton announced a $350 million capital campaign, the largest in the school’s history. It raised $470 million.
“Father didn’t think small,” Fitzgerald said. “He was a ’go big or go home’ kind of guy.”
More than 40 priests, most of them fellow members of the Society of Jesus, concelebrated the funeral Mass, led by the Rev. Tom Shanahan.
Schlegel was born in Dubuque, Iowa, and earned a theology degree from the University of London and a doctorate from Oxford University in international relations.
His last ministry was as pastor at Church of the Gesu, which is on the campus of Marquette University in Milwaukee.
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, https://www.omaha.com
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