Donnelly, William F.

Jesuit Father William F. Donnelly, longtime business-school faculty member and former Jesuit Community rector and academic vice president of Santa Clara University, died on Oct. 25, 2012, at the Santa Clara Jesuit Community residence, in Santa Clara, Calif. He was 84 years old.

Born in Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 28, 1928, Fr. Donnelly entered the Society of Jesus at Sacred Heart Novitiate in Los Gatos, Calif., on Aug. 14, 1951, after graduating from Bellarmine and Santa Clara.  He pronounced final vows on Aug. 15, 1968, at the Chapel of St. Denis in Paris, France.

A 1949 graduate of Santa Clara University with a degree in business, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1951, and held teaching posts at Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara University. He earned his doctorate in economics from New York University and held master’s degrees in economics and theology.

Fr. Donnelly had been a member of the economics faculty at Santa Clara University since 1969, where he taught courses in international economics, international trade and finance, and principles of economics. His recent research concerned exports of American motion pictures, international trade and offshore financial centers.

He held several administrative posts at Santa Clara University and with the Society of Jesus, serving as a member of the Santa Clara University Board of Regents and the Board of Trustees, and he was Academic Vice President from 1973 to 1978. He also served on the Board of Trustees for Loyola Marymount University and consulted for the Vice Provincial for Education in the California Province of the Society of Jesus.