Fr. Albert A. Grosskopf, SJ, former associate pastor of St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco and campus minister at the University of San Francisco, died August 25, 2025, in the infirmary at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, California. He was 94 years old and had been a Jesuit for 75 years.
He was born in San Francisco on December 20, 1930, the son of Albert W. Grosskopf and Marie Abeling Grosskopf. He graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep in 1949 and felt called to religious life and applied to the Jesuits. At the time of his entrance to the novitiate, he did not feel called to public sacramental ministry as a priest and entered the Jesuit novitiate in Los Gatos as a postulant for the Jesuit Brotherhood, becoming a novice in 1950. His early years as a Jesuit Brother saw him engaged at Los Gatos as a carpenter, diesel mechanic and traveling wine salesman for the Jesuits’ Novitiate Wines. In the early 1960s, he also served as the California Province’s promoter of Brothers’ vocations, composing brochures, visiting parishes and schools, and interviewing prospective candidates.
He was active on the province level on various committees and was appointed as one of four American delegates to the World Congress of Jesuit Brothers held in Rome in 1970, a consultative body aimed at updating the formation and ministry of Jesuit Brothers in the post Vatican Council II years.
In 1967, at the age of 36, Br. Grosskopf enrolled at the University San Francisco, earning a degree in theology in 1971, followed by a master’s degree in applied theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, in 1973. His first assignment in 1972 was on the pastoral team at Holy Family Church in San Jose, California, working with youth retreats and doing pastoral counseling. He started a ministry with divorced and separated Catholics that became a lifelong occupation. In 1975 he was appointed president of the School of Applied Theology in Berkeley, a Graduate Theological Union affiliated institution offering sabbatical and continuing education programs for clergy and religious.
After experiencing parish and academic administration work, he discerned a vocation to the Jesuit priesthood and in 1980 began studies leading to ordination. He studied philosophy at Gonzaga University and theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. He was ordained a priest by Archbishop John Quinn in St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco on June 11, 1983. He then studied for a year at the California Graduate School of Marital / Family Therapy in San Rafael.
Fr. Grosskopf’s priestly ministry was centered around the University of San Francisco and adjoining St. Ignatius Church. He was associate director of campus ministry (1985-1997), continuing as a member of the campus ministry team until 2003. He then served as associate pastor of St. Ignatius Church until 2008. He continued his pastoral ministry and work with the divorced and separated until 2017, when he returned to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center for a ministry of prayer.
Over many years of ministry both as a Jesuit Brother and as a priest, Fr. Grosskopf touched the lives of many in his assignments: families in the parishes, university students, priests and religious seeking renewal in their own ministries, divorced and separated Catholics struggling with their relationship to the Church, and many others he encountered.
Fr. Grosskopf’s hobby was collecting antique fountain pens, pipes and lighters. He would display and trade them at shows and was well-known in the pen collecting world for his skill in repairing classic pens.
Fr. Grosskopf is survived by his brother, Philip, and sister-in-law, Patricia, of Brentwood, California.
The funeral Mass will be held Tuesday, September 23, 2025, 11 a.m. at St. Ignatius Church, 650 Parker Street, San Francisco, 94118. The Mass will be livestreamed on the parish’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bGEH6y2n-c. Inurnment will be at a later date will be in Santa Clara Mission Cemetery, Santa Clara.
Donations in memory of Fr. Grosskopf may be made to the Jesuits West Province of the Society of Jesus, P.O. Box 68, Los Gatos, CA 95031, or to a charity of your choosing.