1970 –

1915 – 1968

Fr. Ralph Kennedy, OFM, was born on Feb. 23, 1915 in Hoboken, N.J. After graduation from St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, N.Y., he entered the novitiate at St. Bonaventure Friary, Paterson, N.J., in 1933, professing temporary vows one year later. He made his solemn profession in 1937 and was ordained in 1941.

He was assigned to Siena College, Loudonville, N.Y., and for 19 years taught sociology. Fr. Ralph established the Social Science Forum to attract men prominent in the field of contemporary social problems in the Albany, N.Y., area. With Bishop Edmund Gibbons of Albany, he was co-founder of the first school of the Labor Relations Board in New York, and served as an executive member. In 1961, Fr. Ralph became an assistant at Our Lady of the Angels Parish, Little Falls, N.J., and in 1967, was assigned to St. Bonaventure Friary in Paterson, N.J.

He died on Dec. 3, 1968 in Paterson. Fr. Ralph was 53 years old, a professed friar for 34 years and a priest for 27 years.