Wright, Warren J.

Jesuit Father Warren J. Wright, aged 65, died Nov. 19, 2012, at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center. He had been a Jesuit for 39 years and an ordained priest for 20 years.

Fr. Wright was born on Jan. 9, 1947, in Los Angeles, the only child of Jack and Bernice Wright. His early life and all his schooling took place in Los Angeles: Cathedral Chapel Grammar School, Loyola High School (Class of ’64), and Loyola University (B.A., History, 1968). He spent four years in the Air Force, including work as an Intelligence Specialist at Fort Meade, Md., analyzing Hungarian air-ground communications.

He entered the Jesuit novitiate at Santa Barbara on Sept. 7, 1973. After two years of spiritual training, he studied philosophy at Gonzaga University, Spokane from 1975 to 1976. He taught history and served as dorm prefect of resident students at Bellarmine College Prep from 1976 to 1979, then made theological studies at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. He was ordained a priest in Los Angeles on June 19, 1982.

Fr. Wright served as Associate Pastor at St. Ignatius Loyola parish, in Sacramento, Calif., from 1983 to 1985, and St. Francis Xavier parish in Phoenix from 1986 to 1987. He taught history and religion at Brophy College Prep in Phoenix from 1987 to 1990 and returned to parish work at St. Francis Xavier from 1991 to 1996. He was then assigned to St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco, where he taught religious studies and served as Assistant Dean of Students. Failing health brought him to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, Calif., in 2011.

Fr. Wright was greatly esteemed by colleagues as a hardworking, conscientious and compassionate priest, who was clear-sighted and perceptive, with a self-deprecating sense of humor. He coped admirably with years of suffering from diabetes and renal failure. A recent immobilization due to knee surgery led to his peaceful decision to forgo his regimen of thrice weekly dialysis.