Dates

• Existence: 1906-01-27 - 1975

Biographical Note

William L. Keleher, Jesuit and Boston College president.

Keleher was born in Woburn, Massachusetts (1906), attended Boston College High School, graduated from Holy Cross College (1926), and entered the Jesuit Order at Shadowbrook (1926). He taught at the College of the Holy Cross (1932) and received an MA in Chemisty (1933). Keleher completed his theological training at Weston and was ordained (1937). He then served as assistant to the Provincial of the New England Province of Jesuits and as master of novices for the novitiate at Shadowbrook before becoming president of Boston College (1945). Keleher presided over significant growth and expansion at Boston College, including accommodation of veterans returning from World War II, launch of a $1 million capital fund campaign (1946), new construction, founding of the School of Nursing (1947), and the groundwork for founding the School of Education, which opened soon after he left office. Also during Keleher's tenure at Boston College was the Boston Heresy Case, which involved then-Jesuit priest Leonard Feeney. Following his presidency at Boston College, Keleher serving as a professor, administrator, and trustee at Holy Cross. Keleher died 1975.

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