June 8, 2020 — Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of Br. Edward C. Gill, SJ, who died on June 6, 2020, at St. Camillus Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He was 86 years old. May he rest in peace.

Ed was born in Madison, Wisconsin on February 5, 1934, and he attended Blessed Sacrament Grade School and Edgewood High School in Madison. After completing three years at St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota, Ed entered the Society of Jesus on August 17, 1955. He entered as a scholastic novice and had the usual Jesuit course of studies at the Oshkosh Jesuit Novitiate, St. Stanislaus Seminary, and Saint Louis University (where he also earned an M.B.A. degree in 1962). In 1964, during his second year of regency at Marquette High in Milwaukee, WI, Ed's request to change grades and become a brother was approved. He made tertianship in Omaha, NE and pronounced final vows in 1982.

After changing grades, for the next 33 years Ed served as a treasurer in many different ministries in many different places: Creighton Prep in Omaha, Nebraska (1965-1968); the Wisconsin Province in Milwaukee (1968-1970); Campion Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin (1970-1976); Sogang University in Seoul, Korea (1976-1981); and Holy Rosary Mission in Pine Ridge, South Dakota (1981-1997). From 1997 to 2003, he was an administrative assistant at St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, and from 2003 to 2012, he was the minister and community treasurer at Creighton Prep. He moved to St. Camillus in 2012.

Ed was a wonderful Jesuit brother, a practical hands-on servant of the servants of God—and an articulate and astute observer of the passing scene in a wide variety of Jesuit communities and ministries. He went wherever he was needed, and got to work. As a typical brother in the Society, he showed love by his deeds and not just his words. He was particularly kind to his elder brother Fr. Joseph Gill, SJ, during Joe's final months of life at St. Camillus.

Ed will be cremated and, when the community can gather together as one, there will be a funeral Mass. Ed was predeceased by his parents and two brothers, John and Fr. Joseph Gill, SJ, of the former Wisconsin Province. He was much loved by his nieces and nephews.